June 4, 2014

LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL
By Kylie Reynolds

LOS ANGELES – The founding partner of Cooley LLP’s Silicon Beach outpost is switching gears and heading for downtown Los Angeles.

David M. Hernand joined Paul Hastings LLP’s L.A. office Tuesday, the firm confirmed. The corporate transactions partner is known for his technology and media expertise, representing clients such as DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., Saban Capital Group Inc. and Machinima Inc.

In an interview, Hernand said he was drawn to Paul Hastings’ reputation as a longtime Los Angeles firm, as well as its national and international footprint. The firm’s traditional corporate practice can better support his work with both large and small companies, he added.

While it was attractive to launch the L.A. office for an out-of-town firm, he said Cooley’s image in the city ultimately posed a “challenge” to his owne work with large corporations.

Palo Alto-based Cooley broke into L.A. in 2012 by tapping into budding Silicon Beach, known for its emerging growth and technology startups.

“Cooley is perceived among many Los Angeles lawyers as being a firm that focuses on early stage companies,” he said. “It wasn’t a perception that was consistent with my practice and the type of practice that I want to have.”

At Paul Hastings, Hernand hopes to grow the firm’s corporate practice in Los Angeles, which has dwindled through retirement and attrition, he said. It shouldn’t be a problem for Hernand, who is well-connected to Southern California’s investment banking and private equity community, said Robert A. Miller Jr., a corporate partner at Paul Hastings.

But Hernand’s addition will also boost Paul Hastings’ technology and media corporate work. It’s a practice the firm wants to expand, particularly in Asia, Miller said.

“While he does have a particular niche in the [technology, media and entertainment] space, he provides a tremendous amount of depth across the board in the transactional area,” Miller said.

An alumnus of Latham & Watkins LLP, Hernand veered from his career at Los Angeles-based firms when he left Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP – where he helped lead the media, entertainment and technology practice – to serve as partner-in-charge of Cooley’s new Santa Monica office.

Along with partners David R. Young, C. Christopher Shoff and Jennifer Massey, he steered Cooley as one of the first law firms to enter Silicon Beach.

The office has since grown to more than 20 attorneys.

C. Thomas Hopkins, who took over as Cooley’s Los Angeles partner-in-charge late last year, said Tuesday that the firm wishes Hernand “much success.”

“We thank him for helping launch the L.A. office, which has grown pretty dramatically in less than two years,” Hopkins said. “We’re pretty happy with the team that we’ve got and excited about the clients that we’re working with in the market.”

Such corporate lateral moves are rare, particularly in Los Angeles’ middle-market economy, said legal recruiter Larry Watanabe of Watanabe Nason LLC, who brokered the deal. He said firms are increasingly seeking partners with transactional and private equity expertise, but the city can go years without seeing a “noteworthy” switch.

“Every major law firm’s top priority, the hardest people to land, are people with David Hernand’s profile,” Watanabe said.