February 3, 2010
THE RECORDER
SAN FRANCISCO – Corporate lawyers, the ugly ducklings of the recession, are looking more like swans to law firms as the economy improves.
Two well-known corporate lawyers moved law firms Tuesday in Silicon Valley. Timothy Curry, the former head of transactions at O’Melveny & Myers, jumped to Jones Day and James Chapman, who founded Nixon Peabody’s Palo Alto office, is off to Foley & Lardner.
Law firms are anticipating more M&A deals and IPOs in 2010 and looking to get their hands on dealmakers. In late 2008 and well into last year, firms wouldn’t get near a corporate lawyer even in Silicon Valley.
“Everybody was paralyzed frankly “ the world sort of came apart financially the last quarter of ’08,” said recruiter Larry Watanabe, who placed Chapman at Foley. “Things stabilized midway through 2009 and lateral activity has remained vigorous particularly in Northern California and especially in Silicon Valley.”
Nixon Peabody’s Palo Alto office in 2007. He was managing partner of the branch and had a big hand in expanding Nixon’s China practice.
A start-up lawyer, he said Nixon wasn’t the right place for his practice.
“I think what Nixon was looking to do was focus on its top 40 clients,” said Chapman. “My practice is focused on companies that one day will grow to be the top 40 clients.”
Chapman “ who counts his book of business as a little less than $2 million “ said that Foley better understands the emerging company corporate practice. An IP-heavy firm, Foley has only a dozen lawyers in Palo Alto. After losing office Managing Partner Gerald Swiss last year, the firm has tried to bounce back, hiring IP litigator Amar Thakur from Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and now Chapman.
Curry had been at O’Melveny for seven years and has done corporate work for companies like SanDisk Corp. and Zoran Corp. in the past. He said he was drawn away from O’Melveny by 2,300-lawyer Jones Day’s “global footprint” and “great culture.”
Curry said he’ll be bringing his clients with him but declined to name them. He said his parting with O’Melveny was amicable and the firm said it wished him the best.
O’Melveny has had much higher profits per partner than Jones Day in the past. In 2008, O’Melveny brought in $1.5 million in PPP while Jones Day was at $810,000. However, Jones Day has a closed compensation system and can pay for stars. Curry declined to comment on his compensation.
Jones Day has been on a hiring spree in California over the last few years. Aside from Curry, the firm added James Dutro, a health care partner from Latham & Watkins in San Francisco. The firm also added Alston & Bird IP partner Patrick Elsevier and Baker & McKenzie M&A partner Kenji Funahashi in San Diego recently.