New Shook partners Thomas Goutman, Kim Kocher and Rosemary Schnall join Shook Philadelphia managing partner Sean Wajert.

Shook, Hardy & Bacon is opening a Boston office, its third new location this year, and bolstering its Philadelphia presence, as it takes a nine-lawyer group from Philadelphia-based White and Williams.

The group includes five partners—four in Philadelphia and one in Boston—as well as three of counsel and one associate in Boston. Their practice focuses mainly on environmental and toxic tort litigation.

Leading the group is Philadelphia partner Thomas Goutman, while Boston partner Richard Campbell will become managing partner of the new office. Both said they were looking to join a firm with a greater geographic footprint.

Shook partner David Haase.

The other partners making the move with Goutman in Philadelphia are David Haase, Kim Kocher and Rosemary Schnall, though Kocher and Schnall will be joining the group later this month. The of counsel lawyers in Boston are Brandon Arber, Melissa Nott Davis and Stephen Hansen, and the Boston associate is Alan Wong.

“What we do is try cases around the country for large companies, and we’ll be bringing that work. That’s one of the things that attracted us to Shook, which is their national reach,” Goutman said. He added that he felt “privileged” to work at White and Williams for 40 years.

“We each are exposing one another to new areas of practice, new geographies and new clients,” Campbell added, referring to his group and his new firm.

The partners declined to name their clients. According to court records, they have represented Monsanto Co. in a number of cases in federal court.

Shook’s Philadelphia managing partner, Sean Wajert, said he has known of the White and Williams lawyers and their practices for years.

“For Philly, it’s an office that we founded in 2012 and we’ve been looking to grow over time, and we have in onesies and twosies. But to get a solid group like this is very exciting,” he said. And with regard to the new Boston office, he added, “It’s really quite exciting and really part of our overall strategic plan.”

Campbell added that he hopes to help Shook get a foothold in other areas outside his practice by opening the door to Boston’s pharmaceutical and medical device markets.

It’s been a busy year for Kansas City, Missouri-based Shook in terms of opening new offices. The firm launched a presence in Los Angeles in April, and in Atlanta in June.

“Part of our strategic plan has always been to grow in the Northeast, where many of our clients are headquartered,” Shook Hardy chair Madeleine McDonough said in a statement. “With offices in Philadelphia and [Washington] D.C., Boston was a natural next step. We searched for the right attorneys to better serve clients and align with our firm culture.”

While Shook Hardy had a flat year in 2018, that was a function of having a business built on complex litigation and a revenue stream dependent on contingency fees, McDonough said in an interview earlier this year.

Regarding the group’s move, a spokeswoman for White and Williams said in a statement: “The firm is grateful for their contributions and wishes them well in the future.”