August 6, 2013
THE RECORDER
By Chelsea Allison
SAN DIEGO – Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch has poached a corporate partner from Duane Morris in San Diego.
Blake Allen joins the 130-lawyer regional firm from Duane Morris, where he’d been since 2004, a year after the Philadelphia-based firm opened its San Diego office.
“Blake is clearly an exceptional lawyer with a very broad-based corporate practice,” said Procopio’s San Diego managing partner Thomas Turner. “He brings added depth in an area where we anticipate growth.”
Allen focuses on securities law and public company representation, and Turner added that this expertise would be especially valuable as Procopio looks to bulk up its work with public companies and its securities practice generally.
Prior to joining Duane Morris, Allen was at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps, where he got to know Procopio’s corporate and securities practice chair Dennis Doucette, as well as other Luce alumni who joined the firm when Luce Forward was acquired by Washington, D.C.-based McKenna Long & Aldridge. Allen and Doucette also collaborated as members of the Association for Corporate Growth, of which Allen is a former president and Doucette is president-elect.
“It’s going to be a great fit,” Doucette said. “He’s a really good securities lawyer and a great guy.”
Ken Schwartz and Larry Watanabe of Watanabe Nason brokered the deal for Procopio. Last month, Watanabe Nason placed Jon Gonzales as Procopio’s first full-time corporate partner in Menlo Park.
Duane Morris partner Edward Cramp, who heads up the San Diego office, said the firm wished Allen the best of luck.