January 21, 2003

THE CALIFORNIA LAW BUSINESS JOURNAL

By Toni Vranjes

It’s been a frenzied year in the law business, with California firms gobbling up lateral talent at a fast and furious pace. The firms aren’t consummating the megamergers, practice acquisitions and rainmaker raids on their own, however. Many are turning to the expertise of top-notch legal recruiters to beef up their ranks. Here’s a look at some recent deals that have generated buzz, and the legal recruiters who brokered them.

* In May, Dorsey & Whitney absorbs San Francisco’s Flehr Hohbach Test Albritton & Herbert, a 28-attorney intellectual property boutique. Brokered by John Childers of McMorrowSavarese.

* In June, partner Donna Melby leads Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold’s Los Angeles employment and labor group to Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal. Brokered by Richard Kolodny of Portfolio Group.

* Edward Grenville, the former general counsel, vice president and secretary of GE Capital Container Finance Corp. and Genstar Container Corp., returns to private practice in May at San Francisco’s Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott. Brokered by Sari McClure of McClure & Feuer.

* James Doroshow, a partner and intellectual property litigator at Pasadena’s Christie Parker & Hale, jumps in March to Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in Century City. Brokered by Barry Goldberg of Barry Goldberg & Associates Inc.

* Proskauer Rose nabs Anthony Oncidi, a labor and employment partner and $2 million rainmaker, from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Los Angeles office in May. Brokered by Jill Strickstein of Strickstein Beckman.

* From February through July, Jones Day Reavis & Pogue grabs a lion’s share of Los Angeles-based Lyon & Lyon’s intellectual property practice with the one-by-one lateral hires of partners Lawrence LaPorte, David Randall, Robert Dickerson, Donald McCarthy and Jerrold Reilly. Brokered by Larry Watanabe of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer.

* In April, seven Los Angeles partners defect from Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly and scatter to the local offices of Fulbright & Jaworski, Greenberg Traurig and McDermott Will & Emery. Six of the partners – Christopher Darrow, Charles Berhman, Marc Brown, Mark Wine, Charles Rosenberg and Cynthia Lock – are moved by one legal recruiter. Brokered by William Vochoska of Alan Miles & Associates.

* William E. Thomson, a partner in the Los Angeles post of McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enersen (now Bingham McCutchen), heads to Hogan & Hartson in June. Brokered by Steve Adler of Esquire Inc.

* In January, Los Angeles’ Burke Williams & Sorensen opens its first Northern California post with the acquisition of Pond North & Hugo, a San Francisco tort boutique with nine attorneys. Brokered by John Jameson of the Jameson Group.

* Los Angeles litigation partner Michael Eidel dumps Crosby Heafey Roach & May for Piper Rudnick in June. Brokered by Randi Frisch of LegalWorks.

* Arter & Hadden loses San Francisco partners Eugene Chiarelli and Martin Orlick, along with one of-counsel and two associates, to Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro. Brokered by Bill Nason of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer.