Michael Best announced the expansion of the firm’s Salt Lake City office with the addition of six attorneys to the law firm. James Kruse, Kevin Timken, and Lyndon Ricks join as partners in the Corporate & Transactional Practice Group, alongside Betsy Voter who joins as senior counsel. Ellen Maycock and Jennifer Falk also join as partners in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group, and will continue to practice family law as well.
“Our Utah team is thrilled to welcome this group of exceptional attorneys to Michael Best who will continue to strengthen our corporate and broker dealer practice,” said Richard Ensor, Managing Partner of the Salt Lake City & Midvale offices. “The quality of the KLMR attorneys is well known throughout the Salt Lake Valley and Utah as a whole. The addition of this group is a notable assertion that our firm is committed to providing superior and impactful client service across a range of industries in our marketplace. ”
Michael Best’s hiring of Kruse, Maycock and Ricks, who are name partners of their previous firm, KLMR, comes on the heels of recent lateral Craig Stoehr, who in March of 2017 joined the firm’s Corporate & Transactional Practice Group. Other recent practice group growth this year includes three litigation partners in Chicago.
Kruse has more than 40 years of experience with corporate, securities law, and broker-dealer regulation. He concentrates his practice on advising clients through new equity financings, corporate acquisitions and reorganizations, representation of broker-dealers and investment advisers, and defense against disciplinary matters and enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and various state regulatory agencies. Kruse received his J.D. from George Washington University, where he was a member of the George Washington Law Review’s Comment Staff.
For more than 30 years, Ricks has advised clients on general corporate and commercial transactions, securities matters, domestic and international acquisitions and divestitures. His practice covers a wide span of industries as well, including automotive, electrical products, foreign exchange trading, equipment manufacturing, investment banking, software development and sales, health care, and real estate, among many others. Ricks earned his J.D., cum laude, from Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, where he also served as Editor of the BYU Journal of Legal Studies.
One of the four founding partners at KLMR, Maycock brings more than four decades of commercial litigation and family law experience to her practice. Most of her time is spent on the latter, where she focuses on the long-term needs of families in transition during matters of marital estate mediation, complex custody issues, and divorce proceedings. Maycock received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s College of Law. During her time there, she also served as editor-in-chief of the Utah Law Review.
Timken focuses his practice advising public and private companies on various securities matters, equity financings, commercial transactions, and regulatory compliance. In addition, he also has extensive experience managing broker-dealer compliance, particularly regarding resales of restricted securities, and regulatory enforcement defense with the SEC and CFTC. Timken received his J.D. from the University of Utah College of Law, where he was Managing Editor of the Utah Law Review.
Falk divides her practice between family law and litigation matters. As an advocate of her family law clients, she represents them through complex divorces, division of property, alimony and custody matters. She also advises clients in both government and private sectors on complex labor and employment matters. Falk received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s College of Law and her Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford’s Linacre College.
Voter focuses her practice on financial regulatory compliance and corporate securities law. Her experience includes advising clients on issues related to broker-dealer and investment compliance, enforcement actions and examinations in front of the SEC and FINRA. She served as in-house counsel to a broker-dealer prior to joining KLMR, thereby giving her a unique perspective on the issues related to that heavy regulation industry and insight into how to effectively advise and assist her broker-dealer clients. Voter received her J.D. from the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney Law School.
“The decades of experience and leadership that this group brings to our firm and the diverse industry-sector expertise they represent, speaks to our recruitment platform in Utah and the western region,” said David Krutz, Managing Partner of Michael Best. “Culturally, they are a great fit and will help continue our growth and superior client service in Salt Lake City.”
“Our team is excited about this opportunity with Michael Best,” said Jim Kruse, a founding member of KLMR. “The motivation for this move was to provide us the capabilities to expand our regional clients by leveraging the national exposure and reach of the firm to deepen our relationships. I am impressed with Michael Best and look forward to what the future holds.”