US law firms are tearing apart the 500-lawyer rump of San Francisco’s Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, following the decision to dissolve the firm on 30 January.

As Legal Week went to press, San Francisco’s Morrison & Foerster (MoFo) had hired two corporate partners from Brobecks’ San Diego office, while Texas giant Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld had brought aboard 18 Austin-based litigators along with Brobecks’ former head of litigation Steve Zager, who joined the firm last week.