Barnes & Thornburg expands into Baltimore with additions

Barnes & Thornburg announced the opening of three new offices, including one in Baltimore. Two attorneys joined the firm in Baltimore as part of the addition of 35 lawyers nationwide.

John Smolen joined as the co-leader of the Infrastructure practice. Teri Guarnaccia also joined as a partner in the new Baltimore office.

The firm also opened offices in Denver and Phoenix. The 35 lawyers joined its Government Services and Finance Department across 10 offices. The firm now has 56 lawyers focused on public finance and infrastructure matters and serve clients in state and local government, underwriting, banking health care, education, and other sectors.

“We are excited to launch Barnes & Thornburg offices in Baltimore, Denver and Phoenix, and to join this growing and dynamic firm of collaborators,” said Valarie Allen, a new partner who joins Kimberly Blanchet as department vice chairs for public finance. “Barnes & Thornburg shares the same commitment to excellence and client service that we developed at Ballard Spahr, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues.”

The group joins from Ballard Spahr and have been nationally and internationally recognized for advancing large and complex alternative project delivery, including public-private partnership, infrastructure projects in the nation. The finance team represents parties including borrowers, bankers, investors and credit providers.

Barnes & Thornburg now has approximately 850 lawyers and serves clients across the globe from 26 U.S. offices including in Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Wilmington, Delaware.