San Francisco based firm, Littler Mendelson, announced today its merger with five-lawyer Portland firm Amburgey & Rubin PC. Just two months ago Littler finalized its largest merger ever with a 46-attorney labor and employment boutique in Cleveland. Littler has grown by 120 attorneys over the past year, mostly gaining small groups from other labor and employment firms. Currently, the firm has over 600 lawyers in 42 offices nationwide.
Source: www.sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com
San Francisco boutique, Topel & Goodman, is set to merge with New York firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman on April 1. The seven-lawyer boutique has made a name for itself in white-collar criminal defense, but the firm’s two partners feel that Kasowitz’s 230 lawyers will help to provide the backup needed to take on larger criminal cases and ancillary civil cases. For Kasowitz, the deal provides criminal defense capabilities and a West Coast presence. Kasowitz Benson focuses on general litigation, creditors’ rights and bankruptcy, employment, intellectual property and family law. The two firms hope to double the number of lawyers in the San Francisco office in the next year.
Source: www.law.com
Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis will open a new office in Walnut Creek, CA this May. This office will be its second in the San Francisco Bay area; the real estate firm’s five other offices are in Southern California. The 6,600 square foot office will accomodate up to 11 attorneys, and will hopefully attract new clients. San Francisco land use partners Michael Durkee and David Blackwell and associate Thomas Tunny will work in Walnut Creek initially, but the firm will be recruiting new partners and associates with real estate experience.
Source: www.law.com
Washington-based Covington & Burling recently made two lateral partner hires, expanding its litigation team. David Bayless, joining the San Francisco office, is a securities litigation partner from Morrison & Foerster. In D.C., Michael Schlanger rejoins the firm from Sonnenschein after a 30-year absence. Covington has just under 500 attorneys and actually rarely does lateral hiring; last year only six new partners joined the firm.
Source: www.thelawyer.com
David Bayless has joined Covington & Burling’s San Francisco office from Morrison & Foerster. Bayless comes to the Washington-based firm as a partner after more than seven years with MoFo’s securities litigation practice. Sources from MoFo’s San Francisco office speculate that in moving, Bayless is seeking to pursue his regulatory practice. Covington’s securities and enforcement practice is based mainly in Washington and New York, and is known for its former government lawyers.
Source: www.law.com
Four transactional lawyers from Epstein Becker & Green have joined the Atlanta office of Chicago-based Schiff Hardin. The group specializes in the design and implementation of Employee Stock Ownership Plans and leveraged ESOP transactions. Preston C. Delashmit and Robert E. Lesser join as partners, and Randolph R. Smith Jr. and Danielle R. Doerhoff join as associates. Schiff Hardin’s Atlanta office opened in 2003; the firm also has offices in Washington, New York, and San Francisco.
Source: www.law.com
San Francisco bankruptcy boutique McNutt & Litteneker has been hit hard by the downturn in bankruptcy business over the past couple years. Around the same time the firm started to lose its lawyers; it shrank from 10 full-time lawyers to only two – the two name partners. Three of the former associates moved to the San Francisco office of Philadelphia-based Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. The associates cited various reasons for their departures, from little opportunity for professional development to being underchallenged. Others saw a lack of mentoring as a problem.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
New York’s Dewey Ballantine and San Francisco’s Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe canceled a merger that would have resulted in a 1,500-lawyer firm. Morton A. Pierce, chairman of Dewey Ballantine, stated that the two firms were not able to overcome differences about a number of key issues, keeping them from completing the merger. Orrick chairman Ralph Baxter did not provide details and emphasized that the merger had never been a done deal. The recent departure of a number of partners from Dewey might have affected the merger discussions, though Pierce denies that as being the cause.
Source: www.nylawyer.com
St. Louis-based Armstrong Teasdale has made another expansionary move, acquiring San Francisco boutique Senn Meulemans. The move brings 9 new attorneys to Armstrong, as well as offices in San Francisco and Las Vegas. The firm employs 264 lawyers in 11 offices worldwide, including Washington, D.C. and Shanghai, China.
A new, 360 attorney entity will form as of October 1 when Fox Rothschild merges with Grotta, Glassman & Hoffman. The combined firm will have offices in Philadelphia, Princeton, Atlantic City, Pittsburgh, Wilmington, West Palm Beach, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Los Angleles.
Source: www.law.com
New York-based Dewey Ballantine and San Francisco-based Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe are currently engaged in merger talks. While still in the preliminary stages, the potential combination would result in a 1,200 lawyer entity. In New York City, Dewey currently employs 300 attorneys and Orrick has 200, and a combined force of 500 lawyers would be one of the largest in the city.
Source: www.law.com
Philadelphia firm Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis announced a $10,000 salary increase for associates n all seven of its offices. This brings its Philly first-year rate to $125,000, matching moves by several of the city’s other big firms. Schnader Harrison was founded in 1935 and currently has six East Coast offices and one in San Francisco.
Source: www.law.com
