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San Francisco-based Gordon & Rees has expanded its national presence with the addition of a new Washington, D.C., office. The office is being started with three lateral attorneys from Drinker Biddle & Reath.
The attorneys from Drinker Biddle include partners O'Kelly McWilliams III and Jennifer Persico and senior counsel Edmund Cooke Jr. McWilliams is taking on the role of managing partner for the office.
The trio is working out of a temporary space near Union Station until the firm acquires a permanent office location, according to McWilliams. The firm is looking to establish a permanent office by April 1 in the Metro Center area of downtown D.C.
McWilliams said the firm is currently in talks with other practice groups and that he has received calls from attorneys inquiring about opportunities. He said the office is looking to expand to between 10 and 15 attorneys by the end of the year.
McWilliams said that what attracted his group to Gordon & Rees were the firm's flexible rate structure and its national footprint. It has also allowed the group to expand their practice, he said.
"Since we've been here as of March 1, we've already gotten new matters from other offices and sent out new matters," McWilliams said. "If you truly want to be considered a national law firm, you have to have a Washington, D.C., presence."
Firm managing partner Dion Cominos said Washington was one of the last major cities where the firm did not have a presence. The new office helps to meet the demands of existing clients while enabling it to reach out to new ones, he said.
"It's not just Washington, D.C., but the mid-Atlantic region that they service," Cominos said. "For our clients who have needs in those areas we now have a foothold."
The firm posted annual gross revenue of $162.5 million, according to the 2011 Am Law 200 survey. Cominos said the firm has just shy of 500 attorneys. Gordon & Rees is a full-service firm with roots in litigation. The firm boasts robust practices in commercial litigation, construction litigation, employment litigation, insurance, product and medical devices, pharmaceutical, intellectual property, health care, transactional and real estate.
This article first appeared on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
