March 11, 2013
THE DAILY JOURNAL
By Ameera Butt
LOS ANGELES – David H. Raizman jumps to new platform from Drinker Biddle’s Los Angeles office.
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC added labor and employment shareholder David H. Raizman to its Los Angeles office last week.
Formerly with Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Raizman said he was looking for a firm that could service his clients on a national basis and a platform that could call on his expertise in Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I think Ogletree is both of these,” he said.
The move also reunites Raizman with Joseph T. Clees and Gregg M. Lemley, former colleagues from Bryan Cave LLP and Affiliates who started Ogletree’s Phoenix and St. Louis offices, respectively.
Raizman’s move comes amid increasing demand throughout the state for partners in the employment litigation area, according to legal recruiter Larry Watanabe.
“Demand in this practice area is equally sought after by major law firms seeking to strengthen their existing practices and by labor and employment boutique firms,” Watanabe wrote in an email, pointing to firms such as Ogletree and Littler Mendelson PC.
Ken Schwartz, of Watanabe’s recruiting firm, Watanabe Nason LLC, brokered Raizman’s move.
Betsy Johnson, Ogletree’s office managing shareholder in Los Angeles, said Raizman’s addition was “absolutely” a push to build the firm’s West Coast employment litigation practice. Raizman’s specialty in Title III disability work will also be a boon for the firm, she said.
“That is a niche practice that I think it will help round out the rest of our specialities here in Los Angeles. I also think for our clients that it will be a tremendous resource not only here in Los Angeles, but around the country,” Johnson said on Friday. “I expect that he will be one of our go-to people, not just with the new work coming but the work he brings in as well.”
Raizman’s addition brings the Los Angeles office headcount to 38 attorneys, according to the firm.
In 2010, Drinker Biddle landed Raizman when it absorbed the four name partners and two associates from Eisenberg Raizman Thurston & Wong LLP. A Drinker Biddle spokeswoman said the firm doesn’t comment on partner departures.