Edwards Angell's Jon-Paul LaPointe
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Two more firms open up offices in the Los Angeles area, continuing a strong trend
April 8, 2009
LOS ANGELES — Two more law firms, Boston's Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge and Milwaukee's Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan, have opened their first California offices in the Los Angeles area.
Edwards Angell, which has 10 U.S. offices and one in London, plus an affiliated office in Hong Kong, is opening its first California office in Newport Beach, Calif.
Walter Reed, managing partner of Edwards Angell, said the firm opened the office to accommodate a specific client.
"We've been looking at opportunities in California for many years, but this office is being opened because a specific client has asked us to do a specific kind of litigation in California," he said. "To do the litigation properly, we needed to have a presence in the Los Angeles area." He said the firm intends to add more clients in Southern California, as well.
Jon-Paul LaPointe, who joined Edward Angell as counsel in the litigation management group from his own firm, will head the new office.
Reed said the firm could hire three more attorneys for the California office in the near future in various practice areas, such as litigation, insurance and reinsurance, and public finance.
Separately, Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan, a minority-owned firm, is acquiring eight lawyers from Los Angeles-based Atkins & Evans to open an office in Los Angeles. Gregory M. Wesley, co-chairman of the firm's labor and employment group and an equity partner in Milwaukee, said the two firms shared national clients. Merging together will "allow us to target some larger clients that wanted to be able to use diverse firms on a national and regional basis," he said.
"They have an extensive litigation background, and we have a national public finance practice we think will be able to take advantage of their longstanding contacts, reputation and standing in the community," he added. The lawyers joining from Atkins & Evans include the firm's three partners, Nelson Atkins, Irwin Evans and Kenneth Jones, plus three associates, one lawyer of counsel and one special counsel.
Wesley said he anticipated hiring up to six more attorneys for the Los Angeles office in the next few years.
The firm also is opening an office in Phoenix, where Charles Hamilton Houston III has joined from his own firm. Wesley said he hopes to grow the Phoenix office with up to seven more lawyers in the next four years. Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan has about 80 attorneys in 11 U.S. offices nationwide, including Chicago, Las Vegas, New York and Washington.
The Los Angeles area has attracted a substantial number of firms in recent months. At least eight other firms have opened offices since the economic downturn began eight months ago. Last month, Philadelphia's Blank Rome opened a Los Angeles office. In February, Snell & Wilmer opened a downtown Los Angeles office, and Haynes and Boone, based in Dallas, opened its first California offices in San Jose and Irvine. And Lathrop & Gage, based in Kansas City, Mo., opened a Los Angeles office on Jan. 1.
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