Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold picked up six real estate lawyers from the now dissolved Woo & Associates. The lawyers, who specialize in representing landlords, will join Sedgwick’s San Francisco office. Sedgwick’s real estate practice already included litigation and transactional services for a wide range of commercial real estate owners, developers, managers, lessees and professionals.
Source: www.charlotte.bizjournals.com
Kirkland & Ellis’s L.A. office has faced a number of departures over the past six months, bringing the 115-lawyer office down to about 90. About half of those attorneys who left were partners, some of whom are moving on to a new stage in their career. Now the number of partners and associates are about equal, creating a slight sense of imbalance. The L.A. office is strong in civil litigation, IP, bankruptcy, and corporate law, and firm sources report confidence in the office’s future growth.
Source: www.law.com
Several firms that entered the L.A. market last year are celebrating a successful first year. Despite the competitive lateral market, these firms have managed to significantly increase their headcounts. Goodwin Procter, had a particularly good year in California, opening two offices in L.A. and others in San Diego, Silicon Valley, and San Francisco. Steptoe & Johnson has grown their Century City office to 22 lawyers, finding success in recruiting in West L.A. Whereas Steptoe has grown using a lateral-by-lateral approach, Venable has built its L.A. office by combining two local 10-lawyer boutiques.
Source: www.law.com
Jesse Markham Jr. is leaving Morrison Foerster to join Holme Roberts & Owen in San Francisco as the antitrust team co-chair. At MoFo, Markham was the co-chair of the antitrust group for three years. His reasons for the move included lower billing rates and an opportunity to grow HRO’s practice. With the new addition, Denver-based HFO will have 19 lawyers in its San Fran office. Markham aims to establish one of the “go-to” antitrust practices in the country, but some say that will be difficult without a larger group of lawyers and in a firm that isn’t known for its antitrust work.
Source: www.law.com
Goodwin Procter has opened a Palo Alto office, its fifth office in California to open over the past 14 months. The Boston-based firm recruited six Bay Area attorneys from Townsend & Townsend & Crew LLP, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC and Latham & Watkins LLP for the new office. The firm has offices in L.A., San Francisco, and San Diego, and has over 750 attorneys nationwide.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
The San Diego legal market has become saturated with lawyers and firms over the past 10-15 years, making the competition fierce for the limited number of clients. Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps and what was then Gray Cary Ames & Frye were the first two firms in the city, but in the 1980s some L.A. firms started setting up shop in the city. Tech-focused San Francisco firms arrived in the early 90s, taking advantage of the booming life sciences industry. Most recently, Boston firms such as Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo and Goodwin Procter are staking their claim in the southern CA market. Some people say that these new arrivals will not have what it takes to compete against the well-established firms, though others argue that with some agressive lateral recruiting, these firms will be able to grow their San Diego offices into a real player in the market.
Source: www.law.com
D.C. based Dickstein Shapiro has added four attorneys from Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner’s L.A. office, which has seen more than a dozen departures since its fall merger. Partners James Turken and Amy Rubinfeld, along with two associates from Thelen’s commercial litigation group have joined the 20-lawyer office in L.A. Thelen’s office now has about 50 attorneys, down from 65 at the time of its merger with Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
Several firms in Sacramento, CA have jumped onto the pay raise bandwagon. Seyfarth Shaw increased first-year pay from $121,000 to $135,000, while Weintraub Genshlea Chediak bumped up pay to $100,000 and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP raised starting salaries to $145,000. Morrison & Foerster pays new lawyers $160,000, which is said to be the best pay in town.
Source: www.bizjournals.com
