January 22, 2007

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Emma Dewald

LOS ANGELES – On Tuesday, JoAnna M. Esty was a partner at Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif. On Wednesday, she was a partner at Venable’s fledgling Los Angeles office.

Esty didn’t travel alone. She brought a group of four intellectual property lawyers, including fellow partner Stefan J. Kirchanski with her.

“The opportunities we had at Liner were great,” Esty said. “This one was just too good to pass up.”

Although Liner Yankelevitz name partner Stuart A. Liner described the departure as “awkward and unorthodox,” he said he thought that Venable would be a good fit for Esty and her group.

“For her, I think it’s a great move, ” Liner said.

Counsel J. Alison Grabell and associates Jenna F. Leavitt and Jennifer V. Whiting also made the move.

Venable opened its Los Angeles office last year with the acquisition of two local firms, Whitwell Jacoby Emhoff and Gorry Meyer & Rudd. The office now holds 25 lawyers.

Esty’s group is its first lateral hire, as well as the first pure intellectual property group in the office, said Timothy J. Gorry, the partner in charge of Venable’s Los Angeles office.

Venable managing partner Karl A. Racine said the office also hopes to grow in the real estate, midmarket corporate and bankruptcy areas. He said he envisions the office expanding to 50 to 75 lawyers over the next several years.

This opportunity, he said, came about when Venable was contacted by a recruiter. He said that, although Venable had met with Liner Yankelevitz before opening its Los Angeles office, those discussions did not drive this hire.

In some ways, he said, he wished it had.

“Ideally, we’d prefer to not pay a headhunter fee,” he said.

Esty said she had been contacted by recruiters from time to time with various opportunities.

“This was the only one that I responded to,” she said.

It is unclear what will happen to Esty’s clients, whom she declined to name.

“I am in the process right now of notifying clients that we’re moving,” she said.

She said that she could not contact her clients while she was with the Liner firm because of her fiduciary duty to her partners at 70-lawyer Liner Yankelevitz.

“We’ve been contacted by a number of clients that she was doing work for who have indicated that they’re staying with the firm,” Liner said. He said that he is in discussions with another intellectual property group and is hoping to make an announcement shortly.

The move was brokered by legal recruiters Watanabe Nason Schwartz & Lippman.

“I think we’ll be fine here, and I think he’ll be fine there,” Esty said.