By Chinekwu Osakwe

U.S. law firm Paul Hastings said Thursday that it has hired two partners from rival Goodwin Procter as practice leaders in New York and Washington, D.C.

Seo Salimi is departing Goodwin after more than eight years to co-lead Paul Hastings' equity capital markets and corporate life sciences practices in New York.

Salimi advises life sciences companies on initial public offerings, private placements, cross-border offerings, as well as capital raising strategies and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission compliance.

His clients have included Karuna Therapeutics, CRISPR Therapeutics, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities, according to his former profile on Goodwin's website.

Salimi is joining Paul Hastings along with Sean Donahue, who will chair the firm's public company advisory practice group and co-chair its shareholder activism and takeover defense group. He will split time between Washington, D.C., and New York.

Donahue chaired Goodwin's public company advisory practice and co-chaired its environmental, social and governance practice. Earlier in his career, he worked in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance.

Paul Hastings hired other practice group leaders from rival firms in June, including Dana Syracuse, former firmwide co-chair of the fintech industry group and co-leader of the blockchain, digital assets and custody team at Perkins Coie, and Kenneth Deutsch, who led the entertainment and media practice at Latham & Watkins.

The Los Angeles-founded firm has hired at least 24 partners globally since January.

A spokesperson from Boston-founded Goodwin wished Salimi and Donahue well.

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