January 22, 2007

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Robert Iafolla

LOS ANGELES – Alschuler Grossman lost its first partner since half of its partnership split to form Dreier Stein & Kahan, as litigator Devan D. Beck left and joined Winston & Strawn’s downtown Los Angeles office.

Beck said events that rocked Alschuler Grossman during 2006 the failed mergers with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi and Cooley Godward Kronish, and the acrimony generated by the partnership schism motivated him to look elsewhere.

Beck took with him a significant practice, primarily representing hospitals and physician groups against insurance companies and the government. He started at his new firm Jan. 12.

“Devan is a strong litigator, and that falls right in our sweet spot,” said Laura R. Petroff, managing partner of Winston & Strawn’s Los Angeles office.

The office also added former Latham & Watkins litigator Steven D. Atlee in December 2006.

Beck said the strength of Winston & Strawn’s national health care practice and its frequent involvement in trials attracted him to the firm.

He expects to bring most of his clients, including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Regal Healthcare and Heritage Provider Network.

Aside from Alschuler Grossman’s losing Beck’s business, the litigator’s departure could negatively affect the firm’s search for a merger partner, according to several industry observers.

The firm faces questions about who’s lined up to inherit rainmaker Marshall Grossman’s client relationships, sources said, and losing a younger partner only adds to these concerns.

However, other knowledgeable sources said that, because Beck was not a Grossman loyalist, his departure does not significantly affect the future of the firm.

“He was not tied to either the Marshall Grossman camp or the Larry Stein camp [who formed Dreier Stein], so I’m not surprised he left,” said Sanford A. Lechtick, president of the legal search company Esquire Inc. “I don’t see this particularly hurting Alschuler, because I don’t think he was tied into the firm’s major clients.”

Beck was representing USC, a Grossman client, in its suit against Tenent Healthcare, but he said he expects that work to stay at his former firm.

Bruce Friedman, managing partner of Alshuler Grossman, said Beck showed “poor judgment” by leaving because “there are great opportunities here.”

“They have great opportunities to be successful,” Beck responded, “but obviously I’m very happy with my decision.”

The 46-lawyer Alschuler Grossman has opened merger discussions with Sidley Austin, Bingham McCutchen, DLA Piper and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, according to knowledgeable sources.

Winston & Strawn has 900 attorneys among nine offices in Chicago, Geneva, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The legal search firm Watanabe Nason Schwartz & Lippman brokered Beck’s move.