Large group exits are increasingly part of the Big Law business cycle, but few, if any, have matched the mass exodus of more than 100 lawyers from Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, led by leaders in the employment department earlier this month.

For the last couple years, Barber Ranen founding partners John Barber and Jeff Ranen said they’d been kicking around the idea of launching a firm and employing their leadership experience from serving on Lewis Brisbois’ management committee in addition to leading one of the firm’s largest practices. They were eagerly joined by Tim Graves, who served as the national managing partner of Lewis Brisbois before leaving in 2020.