Polsinelli enters San Francisco and adds 18 lawyers to its Los Angeles office with the addition of a large group of attorneys from a national firm with offices in California effective this week. Twenty-one attorneys, including nine shareholders, join Polsinelli’s Los Angeles’ financial services, real estate, health care and commercial litigation attorneys and open Polsinelli’s new San Francisco office. The attorneys include some of California’s most highly respected and experienced Toxic & Mass Tort defense attorneys including Farah Nicol and Stephen M. Nichols.

“Integrating into such a strong litigation practice and attractive corporate culture was very compelling to our team,” said Nicol. “And when we met firm leadership, we discovered we were liked-minded in our approach to business and client service as well. We knew joining Polsinelli would be a seamless transition and we look forward to helping grow the West Coast presence for clients.”

“Most of the lawyers in this group have worked together as a team on toxic torts cases for many years—each one contributing independently and complementing the skills of the others,” said Nichols, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. “We are very excited to have found what we believe to be an environment that will allow our group to continue to develop, strengthen and broaden its trial practice in California and nationally.”

New shareholders joining the Los Angeles office include: David G. Arthur, Matthew K. Ashby, Susan W. Gilefsky, Ryan S. Landis, Stephen M. Nichols, Farah Nicol, Barbara Z. Safechuck and David K. Schultz

New attorneys joining the Los Angeles office include: Melissa A. Berberoglu, Stephanie L Bowlby, Joseph L. Greenslade, Ellen R. Hurley, Margaret I. Johnson, Mary T. McKelvey, Lesa M. Meyers, John H. Shimada, Deanna M. Mayer Voziyan and Jeffery A. Warfield.

Polsinelli’s new San Francisco office will include shareholder Anne Cherry Barnett and attorneys Mark J. Hilliard and Angela E. Fones.

The existing Toxic and Mass Tort practice at Polsinelli has successfully defended thousands of toxic and mass tort cases. As national and regional defense counsel, Polsinelli attorneys have mounted significant defense efforts on behalf of major industrial clients. The 21 new attorneys represent clients in the construction and chemical industries with a particular focus on asbestos litigation defense.

The California attorneys join Polsinelli at an exciting time. Earlier this year, Polsinelli added an Atlanta office with a focus on litigation and labor and employment. The American Lawyer has ranked Polsinelli as the fastest growing law firm in America for the past six years, and the firm was recently propelled into the Am Law 100.

Polsinelli is now in 19 cities nationwide with more than 740 attorneys. To meet clients’ needs, Polsinelli added a Los Angeles office in July of 2011 and as the firm just marked the third anniversary of its Los Angeles opening, the office has now grown from six attorneys to more than 35. In 2013, to accommodate strategic growth, the national law firm moved to Century Plaza Towers at Century Park. The firm has leased nearly 26,000 square feet of Class “A” trophy office space at the landmark project, for 10 years. The firm will office in the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

www.polsinelli.com