A former office managing partner and sitting practice co-chairman is defecting from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman to Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco.
Michael Steel, the head of Pillsbury's San Francisco office from 1999 to 2002 and current co-chairman of the firm's environmental litigation practice team, hasn't left Pillsbury yet, but expects to start at Morrison & Foerster next week. He has been the practice co-chairman since the team was created about five to six years ago, he said.
Steel said MoFo provided the "opportunity to focus on more climate change-related work and the intersection between environmental and technology work as clean technology becomes a more important business."
Robert Falk, the chairman of MoFo's land use and environmental law group, has know Steel for nearly 20 years and said his air quality expertise complements the firm's existing environmental practice.
"We think that expertise will be attractive not only to the clients that will come to us directly for environmental law services but also to a wide array of firm clients," Falk said.
Steel focuses his practice on air pollution, regulatory work, defending enforcement actions and other litigation involving environmental matters, he said. Until now, he had spent his career with Pillsbury, which he joined in 1982. He was also once a co-head of the firm's climate change practice group.
His clients include Union Pacific Railroad, Home Depot and Sears Holdings/Kmart. He joins MoFo as a partner in the cleantech, land use and environmental law practice groups.
