March 24, 2003
THE SAN FRANCISCO DAILY JOURNAL
By Liz Valsamis
SAN DIEGO – Milwaukee’s Foley & Lardner has hired bankruptcy lawyer Peter Ito to lead its West Coast bankruptcy practice.
Ito, who joined as a partner in the San Diego office March 10, is the first bankruptcy lawyer in the firm’s West Coast offices. He joined the firm from the San Diego post of Baker & McKenzie, where he was a partner in the bankruptcy practice.
“It was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up,” Ito says. “I’m the first bankruptcy lawyer in the office, and my job is to build the bankruptcy practice not only in San Diego but on the West Coast for Foley.”
Ito did say that he’d be hiring associates shortly, but he stopped short of saying that they’d be coming from his former law firm.
Ito was with Baker & McKenzie for five years. Before that, he was a partner with San Diego-based bankruptcy boutique Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson. Ito handles creditor committee work and bankruptcy counseling.
In addition to two offices in San Diego, Foley & Lardner has California outposts in Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Francisco.
Lawrence Watanabe of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer brokered the move.