Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, a 430-lawyer old-line California firm, has been late to open an office in New York, but is catching up by merging with a tony 18-lawyer corporate, securities and litigation boutique, Werbel & Carnelutti.

The Werbel firm, whose 10 partners will become partners of Heller Ehrman, has a practice that caught the attention of many national firms seeking to expand in New York.