May 21, 2004

THE LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL

By Liz Valsamis

LOS ANGELES – Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich is losing its former chairman and two other litigation partners to the San Diego office of Morrison & Foerster.

Don Rushing and partners Mark Zebrowski and James Huston join the San Francisco-based firm today. Both Zebrowski and Huston had practiced at Gray Cary for 20 years.

Rushing has been with Gray Cary since 1979, when the firm was known as Gray Cary Ames & Frye, a leading San Diego law firm. He became managing partner of the firm in 1991.

Rushing steered the firm through its 1994 merger with Palo Alto’s Ware & Freidenrich. The combination of 170 Gray Cary lawyers with Ware & Freidenrich’s 105 marked the first major merger that brought an out of town law firm into the Silicon Valley. Ware & Freidenrich was the second largest firm in the burgeoning region, and the combination positioned Gray Cary as a leading tech firm heading into the dot-com boom.

Rushing served as chairman for the newly combined firms for two years, before stepping aside in 1996 to hand the reins to current chairman, Terence O’Malley.

Rushing said that Gray Cary has a strong litigation group in San Diego, but that the three lawyers felt their trial practice was a natural fit with Morrison & Foerster’s.

Rushing called Morrison & Foerster a “destination trial firm,” meaning that it has a large support structure that includes several offices and a deep bench of trial lawyers who can easily handle complex litigation.

“We are go-to trial lawyers, and that’s a natural fit for us,” Rushing said.
The group joins a 50-lawyer office that includes 25 litigators, according to San Diego partner Mark Danis, who serves as Morrison & Foerster’s firmwide managing partner of operations.

“All three of these partners are outstanding trial lawyers,” Danis said. “They’re a perfect fit for what we do across the country.”

Both Rushing and Huston handle aviation crash litigation defense and product liability matters, toxic torts, intellectual property, technology and commercial litigation.

Rushing has represented General Atomics, DuPont, United Airlines, Cessna Aircraft Co. and Alaska Airlines.

Huston has represented Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Sikorsky Aircraft.

The two represented a significant portion of Gray Cary’s aviation litigation practice, according to O’Malley. The firm employs 130 litigators firmwide, more than half of whom are based in the firm’s 150-lawyer San Diego office.
“This will hurt our aviation litigation practice,” O’Malley said. “All three of these men are fine lawyers and we wish them well.”

Zebrowski is a commercial litigator who handles professional malpractice and real estate matters. With Rushing, Zebrowski represented the San Diego Padres in 17 unsuccessful lawsuits to stop the construction of the new downtown ballpark, Petco Park, brought by critics of the project. Petco Park opened this year.

Morrison & Foerster has 19 national and international offices and 947 attorneys. Gray Cary has eight offices and 377 lawyers.

Larry Watanabe of Watanabe Nason & Seltzer brokered the move.