Howrey has recruited the managing partner and co-chair of the IP litigation group of Dewey Ballantine’s Silicon Valley office. Jeannine Yoo Sano will join Howrey’s East Palo Alto office, leaving her former office with eight attorneys, including only one partner. Dewey’s shrinking numbers are largely attributed to the failed merger with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, after which many attorneys got offers elsewhere. Sano was drawn to Howrey because of the firm’s focus on IP, antitrust, and global litigation. The addition of Sano is a part of Howrey’s plan to expand in the Bay Area; accordingly, an antitrust partner was recently hired in San Francisco.
Source: www.law.com
Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps has recruited hot-shot land use lawyer, Timothy Tosta, from Steefel, Levitt & Weiss. Tosta will join the San Francisco office, along with four other real estate attorneys from Steefel. Tosta’s departure adds to the number of partner losses Steefel has faced in the past year; the firm’s attorney headcount is now at 50. Most of the lawyers who have left have gone to larger national firms. Luce, Forward has 200 attorneys and five offices in California, though it plans to expand further into the Bay Area and Los Angeles. It’s 21-lawyer San Francisco office focuses on real estate, bankruptcy, and business and real estate litigation.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Portland firm Stoel Rives, announced this week that it would be “downsizing” its San Francisco office and focus its energies in California on Sacramento. Some of the 14 lawyers from the San Fran office are expected to relocate to the firm’s other eight offices. The firm specializes in land use and real estate practices, and has two other CA offices in Tahoe City and San Diego. Attempts to grow the San Francisco office such as the 2001 merger with Washburn Briscoe & McCarthy did not end well, as eight partners left in 2005 and more have departed since then. Last month’s departure of Peter Mostow, the former leader of the renewable energy practice, was a especially hard felt loss for the firm. Former Stoel partners suggest that some of the firm’s problems resulted from an inability to bill enough hours, gain income, and raise compensation enough to remain competitive with other California firms.
Source: www.law.com
Phoenix-based firm Snell & Wilmer has its sights set on the West Coast for further expansion. The plans for growth come with the firm’s significant increases in annual revenues and lateral hires. The firm has been particularly successful with its litigation, especially products liability, consumer class actions and intellectual property; the other focus is transactional work. The firm’s first priority in its California expansion is Los Angeles; after that, there is consideration of opening offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Seattle, and Portland. However, the firm chairman emphasizes that expansion must first be proceeded by acquiring the right group of lawyers or firms.
Source: www.law.com
Loeb & Loeb has hired three more lawyers for its LA office. Laura Wytsma, a patent litigation partner in Los Angeles, comes from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. The firm also brought in two associates, Timothy Bellamy and Paul Sagan, for the entertainment and media group. The firm now has 260 attorneys, up from 195 in 2005. Earnings also increased last year; the firm reported a 23 percent increase in revenue and a 27 percent boost in profits per partner. After hard times in the mid-1990s, Loeb & Loeb has rebounded nicely, increasing profitability by remaining midsized and focused. This success has attractive top lateral candidates; already nine lawyers have joined the firm this year.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Three new corporate lawyers have joined Reed Smith’s Los Angeles offices. Irell & Manella partner Ken Ikari and O’Melveny & Myers counsel Susan Alker are joining the firm’s LA office as partners, and Alschuler Grossman partner Ramsey Hanna is joining the Century City office as counsel. Reed Smith’s corporate and securities group has grown to 140 lawyers over the past few years. All three lawyers cite Reed Smith’s national and international platform as a big draw to the firm; the firm has over 1,500 lawyers and 21 offices worldwide.
Source: www.law.com
Three senior corporate finance attorneys have joined Reed Smith. Susan Alker, formerly of O’Melveny & Myers, and Ken Ikari, formerly of Irell & Manella, join Reed Smith as partners in the firm’s Los Angeles office; Ramsey Hanna, formerly of Alschuler Grossman, joins the firm as counsel in the firm’s Century City office. These hires are representative of the firm’s committment to growing its Southern California practice, as well as to meeting the needs of its corporate clients in the region. As one of the 15 largest law firms in the world, Reed Smith has over 1,500 lawyers and 21 offices worldwide.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo has expanded both its San Diego and Palo Alto, CA offices. Former Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney attorneys Daniel T. Pascucci and Andrew D. Skale, an intellectual property litigator, have joined Mintz Levin’s San Diego office as Members. Two associates from Buchanan are also joining the San Diego office. Corporate attorneys Matt Kirmayer and Jason Altieri, formerly of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, will be working in Palo Alto. Joining those two in Palo Alto are two associates from Bozicevic, Field & Francis. With the new additions, Mintz Levin’s San Diego office has tripled in size to 22 attorneys since opening nine months ago; the Palo Alto office, which opened last year, has doubled in size to 11 lawyers. Mintz Levin is capitalizing on its expertise in intellectual property, technology, and life sciences; in fact they have over 400 IP-related clients.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com
While other top firms tend not to emphasize rate-sensitive practice areas like land use or labor and employment, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton is focusing its attention on these practices. The 490-lawyer firm just hired two new San Francisco partners and two associates for its real estate, land use, natural resources, and environmental practice. In February the LA-based firm also hired an employment partner in San Francisco. Most top firms have minimized these practices because the clients are not as willing to pay higher billing rates; however, Sheppard attorneys say that keeping these practices strong gives the firm a broader range and safeguards it against varying economic circumstances. High rates are not pushed as hard at Sheppard, where the general feeling is that if your rates are such that you can work enough to make a profit, there is no problem.
Source: www.law.com
Los Angeles-based firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro is opening a new office in Costa Mesa, CA this month. This decision comes after the recent hiring of Gordon Schaller, the former managing partner of Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County office. Schaller, a tax estate planning attorney, will head the office, and some partners from the L.A. office who live in Orange County will also work there. The firm will be looking to hire more attorneys over the next six months. The Costa Mesa office is Jeffer’s third in CA, with the firm already having offices in Century City and San Francisco.
Source: www.law.com
Schiff Hardin has expanded its Energy/Federal Energy Regulatory Commission practice with the addition of eight lawyers and one legislative affairs specialist, formerly with Sullivan & Worcester. Two of the attorneys are launching a Schiff Hardin office in Boston, while the rest are joining the D.C. office. Schiff Hardin has almost 400 attorneys practicing law in offices located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Lake Forest, New York, San Francisco, and Washington.
Source: www.lawfuel.com
