October 23, 2006

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Robert Iafolla

SAN DIEGO – Veteran attorney Rick L. Frimmer completed his transition from the Northeast to Southern California by joining Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps as a partner in its San Diego office.

Frimmer fled the cold winters of Philadelphia and moved to the San Diego area in late 2004, commuting to Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County outpost. But he didn’t feel like a real resident because he was disconnected from San Diego’s legal community.

“I needed a firm, colleagues, a golf game and local ties,” Frimmer said. “And I wasn’t getting that from Costa Mesa.”

His September move to Luce Forward, a firm that was founded in San Diego more than 130 years ago, puts him smack-dab in the middle of the city’s legal community.

Frimmer brings his new firm three decades of experience as a corporate and tax counsel to public and private institutions.

“He’s got a tremendous amount of expertise and experience in the business area,” managing partner Robert J. Bell said. “He can bring that experience to our younger corporate people coming up the ladder.”

Frimmer’s practice focuses on restructuring troubled businesses for debt investors, which can mean transactions, litigation or bankruptcy proceedings.

Frimmer brought his entire book of business over from Greenberg Traurig. He represents high yield mutual funds, including Van Kampen, Delaware Funds and Smith Barney.

“Frimmer is smart guy and a solid performer, but commuting wasn’t really working for him,” said Raymond A. Lee, managing partner of Greenberg Traurig’s Orange County office. “It was a lifestyle move.”

Before earning his law degree at Harvard Law School, he majored in finance and economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Passing the Certified Public Accountant exam added to his business acumen.

Frimmer practiced at Greenberg Traurig for seven years, mostly in Philadelphia. Before that, he ran his own partnership for a decade, and earlier was at Reed Smith.

Luce Forward has 200 attorneys in its five California offices. Greenberg Traurig has 1,500 lawyers spread across 28 offices worldwide.

With the move to Luce Forward, Frimmer said he expects his practice to become more evenly balanced between West Coast and East Coast clients. He said many of his traditional mutual fund clients are based in Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, but now he can take better advantage of the business gravitating to private equity funds in the western United States.

With his frequent travel he’s on the road as much as two weeks per month Frimmer still makes it back to the East Coast and the lousy weather he left behind.

“I love the weather and the life style of the West Coast,” he said, “but I still keep my overcoat and my hat ready.”