January 6, 2012
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By Casey Sullivan
SILICON VALLEY – A group of five corporate and intellectual property partners from Reed Smith LLP’s Silicon Valley office have decamped the lightly staffed outpost for DLA Piper, according to sources inside and outside of both firms.
The group, whose departure throws a serious wrench in Reed Smith’s expansion efforts in Northern California, is comprised of the chair of Reed Smith’s emerging growth and venture capital team, Richard Scudellari; corporate transactions specialists Matt Oshinsky and Armando Castro; intellectual property specialist and founding partner of Reed Smith’s Silicon Valley office, Craig Opperman; and securities litigator David Lisi.
The move leaves a big hole in Reed Smith’s Silicon Valley office. The departure will bring the firm’s headcount in Silicon Valley down to as few as four partners in that outpost. While Reed Smith’s website lists 15 partners staffed in the Silicon Valley office prior to the departure, many of them do much of their work out of San Francisco, according to three recruiters. Meanwhile, the group joins a DLA Piper Silicon Valley office of more than 100 lawyers.
Contacted late Thursday, Opperman acknowledged the move but declined to comment. The other four partners did not immediately return requests for comment, neither did several members of DLA Piper’s leadership, in Silicon Valley and firmwide.
When asked about the move, Michael Meyer, the managing partner of DLA Piper’s Los Angeles office, declined to comment, saying he has friends at Reed Smith and didn’t want to say anything bad about them.
Recruiter Larry Watanabe of Watanabe & Nason LLC brokered the deal.