January 12, 2012
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By Casey Sullivan
SAN DIEGO – A new round of departures from the San Diego office of Baker & McKenzie LLP now has some legal observers questioning how much longer the global giant can sustain a presence in Southern California.
This week, the much smaller Boston-based Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C. picked off two of Baker’s intellectual property litigators, reducing the firm’s San Diego headcount to as few as eight attorneys from the 60 it once staffed in its heyday at the turn of the millennium.
The departing lawyers are partners Howard N. Wisnia and James P. Conley, who will begin work at Mintz Levin today. Mintz Levin also picked up tax specialist Raj Tanden from Proskauer Rose LLP.
On Baker’s side, what might otherwise be viewed as low-impact departures tell a bigger story for the more than 3,800-lawyer firm, which failed to establish a lasting Southern California presence. Some industry observers question whether that’s because Baker, a global giant, was complacent in the region or because San Diego’s market is more compatible with a domestic firm that does work for clients with more localized needs.
“The expense of a global firm officing that number of lawyers in a region in which it clearly has no traction within the local market raises questions,” said recruiter Larry Watanabe of Watanabe & Nason LLC, who brokered the placement of the two Baker lawyers.
Asked whether the firm planned to close its San Diego office, as was speculated by a person with knowledgeable of the firm’s business affairs, Baker’s San Diego managing partner Colin Murray declined to comment.
“I don’t know what kind of information you have,” he said.
The possibility of closing shop in San Diego has been a long time coming for the global firm that’s barely held onto its presence there, industry experts say. The losses Baker sustained since 2000 to firms that have grown in San Diego, such as Morrison & Foerster LLP, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP and Jones Day, seems to show that it’s done too little to fortify its Pacific Rim platform since its tumultuous merger with Los Angeles firm Macdonald, Halsted & Laybourne more than 20 years ago.
The firm opened its Los Angeles, Palo Alto and San Diego offices in 1988 after merging with Macdonald. The San Diego office initially received much of its work from technology companies in the area, including biotech and telecommunications businesses. But conflicting corporate cultures that arose with the marriage, coupled with the departure of longtime Macdonald partners, eventually led to the closing of the 38-attorney Los Angeles office in 1993, according to news reports. The office hasn’t reopened.
While the firm has retained a robust Northern California presence, where its lawyers help technology companies with cross-border transactions work, it’s apparently struggled to find a reason to expand southward, where the market is less compatible with the kind of global work Baker is most known for.
“[San Diego] is barely a blip on the radar of legal geography for Baker,” said Los Angeles recruiter Lyndon Parker, pointing to the smaller size of San Diego’s market. “It’s that meaningless of an office for Baker & McKenzie.”
Mintz Levin, based in Boston, has 500 attorneys in nine offices around the world. But it has always maintained a strong domestic presence that is more compatible with the San Diego market, legal industry insiders say. Because of that granular focus, Mintz has seen more traction in the San Diego market in recent years, according to Watanabe.
The firm has big aspirations for its growth in San Diego.
“San Diego is what many have referred to as a mini Silicon Valley,” said Mintz Levin’s San Diego managing partner, Eddie Rodriguez. “This is the center of venture capital and high-tech science. It has a long-standing history of life sciences and the convergence of wireless and medical devices.”
Rodriguez said Mintz Levin has gained more traction than Baker in the area because its focus is more centered on the local technology business community, which he said goes a long way in San Diego.
“Most of our clients that we have serviced out of this office are in San Diego,” he said. “We have very few clients outside Southern California, and that has helped us build a reputation in town and build a strong community in San Diego.”
The ex-Baker lawyers had similar opinions about the perks of a smaller, more locally focused Mintz Levin platform.
“Baker is a fine firm, but it’s a very big firm, and it has a lot of clients, which creates a lot of conflicts in the patent litigation space,” said Howard Wisnia. He said Mintz Levin has developed a trusting relationship with San Diego’s technology community.
The firm has grown its San Diego office to as many as 35 attorneys, including the most recent hires, since opening in the area with 12 lawyers from Fish & Richardson in 2006. With the three-partner pickup, Rodriguez said the lawyers will bolster its work with venture capital, covering both intellectual property and tax related issues.
“Mintz basically has a better platform for our practice,” said James Conley. “They represent a lot of the venture-backed startups that we have experienced helping out, whereas Baker has a more global platform.”