Morgan Stanley wealth manager moves to HighTower

HighTower Advisors LLC has hired another adviser from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC's ranks — despite facing a continuing “lift-out” lawsuit that Morgan Stanley brought against it last month. Barnaby Levin, a former director of wealth management who reportedly has a $300 million book of business and is on the board of Stanford University's Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, joined HighTower on Friday, Elliot Weissbluth, HighTower's chief executive, said. Mr. Levin joins David Pottruck, co-chairman of HighTower and former chief executive of Charles Schwab & Co. Inc., in HighTower's San Francisco office. HighTower, which has $16 billion in assets, plans further West Coast expansion, Mr. Weissbluth said. Given those plans, he noted that the firm plans to hire a recruiter soon. In the lift-out lawsuit, Morgan Stanley is accusing a $500 million team, Strata Wealth Management Group, of soliciting Morgan Stanley clients while the firm's partners were still employed by Morgan Stanley. The suit also alleges that the partners at Strata, an advisory group that manages $500 million in assets, took confidential information with them when they changed affiliation from Morgan Stanley to HighTower on Feb. 12. Asked how this additional raid on Morgan Stanley will affect the legal dispute, Mr. Weissbluth said it should have no effect since the lawsuit is “baseless." On March 2, a New York state supreme court judge enjoined the respondents from using any confidential information obtained while employed by Morgan Stanley, pending a dispute resolution hearing by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. “We're very confident that the arbitration panel will come to the right decision,” Mr. Weissbluth said. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney declined to comment.