August 18, 2009
THE RECORDER
By Petra Pasternak
SAN FRANCISCO – Corporate and entertainment lawyer Channing Johnson, one of the co-founders of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Los Angeles office, has joined the corporate and entertainment practice of Loeb & Loeb as partner.
Johnson said that although Loeb “with about 300 lawyers “ is much smaller than 800-attorney Akin Gump, it has a much bigger media and entertainment group in the two offices that matter to his practice: New York and Los Angeles.
He started Aug. 1.
Johnson, who had helped found Akin Gump’s L.A. office 12 years ago, said he wasn’t looking to move. But he had realized that there were very few lawyers whose practice focus jelled with his. “I felt like there might be an environment where there were lawyers in it that had practices similar to mine, where the lawyers were first and foremost corporate lawyers but spent a lot of their time in the media space,” he said.
For example, there were plenty of Akin Gump lawyers who knew the private equity component of a deal, but none who knew how to do a film license agreement for studios. He said Loeb has about 40 lawyers in the corporate group and about the same in the media and entertainment group. By contrast, Akin Gump has about 10 lawyers on the entertainment side.
Johnson, 58, said he started talking to various firms about 3 1/2 months ago. Ken Schwartz, a legal recruiter with Southern California’s Watanabe Nason, brokered the deal.
Even though Loeb is an Am Law second hundred firm, Johnson noted that it ranks among the top firms in terms of profits, with $1.285 million last year . “I really appreciate firms that are well-managed,” he said.
Akin Gump did not respond to several phone calls and e-mails.