June 4, 2007
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By William-Arthur Haynes
Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner is thinking big, as evidenced by the bicoastal union of Thelen Reid & Priest and Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner and the addition of shingles in London and Shanghai, China, all of which took place at the end of last year.
The merger was designed to gain a stronger foothold in New York, said construction and government-contracts partner Scott E. Hennigh, adding that the expansion strategy made sense from the firm’s perspective.
Problem is, he said, the primary areas targeted for growth – including real estate, structured finance and technology transactions – are of little benefit to his clients’ needs.
So Hennigh moved his practice to Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton’s San Francisco office, which has experienced significant growth during the past couple of months. The outpost houses an all-time-high 83 attorneys.
Prominent land-use, environmental and development-law attorney Judy V. Davidoff, litigator Arthur J. Friedman and a handful of associates joined Sheppard Mullin from Steefel, Levitt & Weiss in April.
Hennigh said his land-use work is split between contractors on state and municipal public-works projects, as well as those in private development. He declined to specify his clients by name, saying he habitually plays their confidences close to the vest.
“I was very pleased to see that they recognized the same platform that Sheppard provides as I did in making the move,” Hennigh said. “I think they see how it can benefit them as well.”
Hennigh said Sheppard Mullin’s geographic footprint in California offers a better opportunity to service clients doing work statewide. The firm has 490 attorneys in 10 offices, seven of which wind from San Francisco to the Mexico border.
Thelen Reid, with 600 attorneys, has four California shops: San Francisco, Los Angeles and two in Silicon Valley.
Hennigh also touted Sheppard Mullin’s complementary practice areas, which could benefit immediate ventures. One of Hennigh’s clients has embarked on land-use projects in Mexico, and Jerry J. Gumpel, a Del Mar Heights corporate partner who advises on real-estate matters, has relevant knowledge of Mexico’s land-use and development regulations.
“That’s just something I didn’t have at Thelen,” Hennigh said. “Thelen has more of a national and international focus right now with their construction.”
Thelen Reid has long represented big-picture construction and development clients, having been founded in 1924 on representation of W.A. Bechtel, Henry J. Kaiser and other large-scale developers.
Thelen Reid co-chair Stephen V. O’Neal, a prominent construction lawyer who led the firm’s construction and government-contracts practice for a decade before taking the helm of Thelen Reid & Priest in April 2005, said the firm’s practice continues to thrive and prosper. Representative matters include the English Channel Tunnel, India’s Jamnagar refinery complex and projects of similar size and importance.
“As is well-known, Thelen has one of the largest and most prominent construction practices in the world and has for many decades,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal wished Hennigh well in his new venture at Sheppard Mullin. The move was brokered by Watanabe Nason.