May 7, 2003

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Erik Cummins

SAN FRANCISCO – Lasky, Haas & Cohler, an early offshoot of the former Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, has gone the way of its parent: the small but prominent litigation boutique is dissolving.

Half of the firm’s six lawyers, including founding partner Charles “Tim” Cohler, joined the San Francisco office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker last week. Two other associates went to San Francisco’s Steinhart & Falconer, and another now works at Latham & Watkins.

“In order to continue to serve substantial clients in major matters, it seems to be increasingly appropriate to be in a firm that has a broad range of disciplines and a broad geographic reach,” Cohler said of joining the 850-lawyer Paul Hastings.

Lasky Haas’ dissolution was not related to the death of prominent name partner Moses Lasky, who died April 7, 2002, at 94, Cohler said. But “it’s hard to convince general counsel that a highly specialized litigation firm is appropriate to all these circumstances.”

Lasky Haas dates to 1979, when Lasky, a Brobeck partner who succeeded Herman Phleger as the firm’s chairman in the 1972, and three of Brobeck’s better-known litigation partners opened their own shop. The other partners were Cohler, John Munter, who is now a San Francisco Superior Court judge, and Richard Haas, who retired 10 years ago.

During its heyday in the 1980s, Lasky Haas had more than a dozen lawyers and was known as one of the city’s finest business and complex litigation boutiques. Many lawyers also placed Lasky, who practiced well into his 80s, among the lions of the San Francisco trial bar in the past century, comparing him favorably with Jake Ehrlich and Melvin Belli.

Ned Isokawa, chairman of Paul Hastings’ 24-lawyer litigation group, said Lasky Haas was also legendary among the antitrust trial bar. He added that Cohler, who is joining the firm as of counsel, “is one of the preeminent antitrust litigators,” both in the state and nationwide.

Joining Cohler at Paul Hastings are Kevin McCann and Jason Bergmann. George Gigounas and Kari Gregory joined Steinhart & Falconer as associates, and Christopher Yeats is now at Latham & Watkins.