August 31, 2007

THE DAILY JOURNAL

By Maya Meinert and Rebecca U. Cho

LOS ANGELES – Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw’s Los Angeles corporate practice partner Kenneth E. Kohler, who left his longtime firm for Morrison & Foerster, will be joined by fellow Mayer Brown corporate partner and California practice head James R. Walther as early as next week, according to sources close to the attorneys.

The departures depleted the strength of Mayer Brown’s once robust Los Angeles corporate and securities practice group. They also added to the big losses the firm has felt since January. Six partners have left since the first of the year, leaving the office with 24.

The moves follow the defections of a group of Mayer Brown real estate lawyers, including longtime Los Angeles managing partner Louis P. Eatman, to Proskauer Rose in July. The firm’s West Coast real estate head, Dean C. Pappas, left with a group to Goodwin Procter in March. Of-counsel Don L. Weaver also bolted the corporate practice group to join Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal last week.

In addition, Mayer Brown’s Web site reported that one of the firm’s top rainmakers in Los Angeles, finance group co-chair Marshall C. Stoddard, is planning to relocate to the New York office. He will leave in mid-September.

The departures leave Mayer Brown with about 70 attorneys in its Los Angeles office.

Walther could not be reached for comment or confirmation of his move to Morrison & Foerster.

Kohler, 54, a corporate, securities and finance specialist, declined to comment on the state of Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office other than to say that “Mayer Brown is a good law firm, or else I wouldn’t have been there for 14 years.”

Michael C. Cohen, head of Morrison & Foerster’s Los Angeles corporate finance practice group, said the addition of Kohler is a key part of a plan to expand the firm’s corporate and securities practice throughout California.

“Ken is a highly skilled, creative lawyer with a great deal of experience operating at a very high level in corporate finance and in multiple sectors,” Cohen said. “He will deepen our bench in the Southern California market in terms of our finance practice.”

James E. Tancula, managing partner of Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office, declined to comment on any other attorney besides Kohler, though he said the firm is in discussions with lawyers to join the firm’s corporate practice.

“We’re sorry Ken left, but we don’t think it’s going to affect us,” he said, citing other strong securities attorneys in the Los Angeles office, including partner Warren R. Loui.

Chicago-based Mayer Brown is involved in litigation with a Boston-based buyout firm, Thomas H. Lee Partners, which claims Mayer Brown aided in the defrauding of customers of Refco Inc., a failed New York-based commodities and futures broker.

In March, the 1,500-lawyer Mayer Brown de-equitized 45 partners.

When asked about the other recent defections from the Los Angeles office, Tancula said that there was no one reason to explain the departures, calling them “personal decisions.”

“I can understand looking at it today that maybe the office is unstable, but I think if you look at us in six months or so, it’ll be a very different perception,” he said. “Los Angeles is critical to the firm’s global strategy, and its connection with Asia is important. The firm is committed to having a strong California presence.”

Larry Watanabe, co-founder of partner placement firm Watanabe Nason Schwartz & Lippman, said Mayer Brown’s recent defections leave a big gap in the firm’s Los Angeles real estate and corporate practices. The firm brokered the most recent moves to Morrison & Foerster.

“These departures represent a loss of 25 percent of [Mayer Brown’s] L.A. partners since January 2007,” said Watanabe. “Given the highly competitive nature of lateral partner recruiting, these losses could be perceived negatively in the lateral marketplace.”

Both Kohler and Walther have been with Mayer Brown since 1993. Kohler graduated from Yale Law School in 1980, and Walther graduated from UCLA School of Law in 1972.

Representatives from Morrison & Foerster declined to comment on any other attorneys joining the firm besides Kohler.