Local Firms Beef Up Staff for Employment Cases

0

As plaintiff’s lawyers continue to file wage and hour class-action suits against employers, firms are beefing up their labor and employment capabilities.


The most recent firm to add a high-profile employment attorney is Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Last week, the Chicago-based 750-attorney firm added Don Meer as partner at its Los Angeles office.

“I was looking for a firm with a preeminent and robust employment litigation practice, and Seyfarth is the perfect place in that regard,” Meer said.

Meer joined from the Los Angeles office of DLA Piper LLP, where he served as chairman of the firm’s labor and employment practice since 2002.

He focuses his practice on defending local manufacturing firms and companies in the oil and gas, telecommunications and investment banking industries in discrimination cases and wage and hour class-action suits.

Also, Hunton & Williams LLP is bringing in a group of nine labor and employment lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

Of those nine, Laura Franze and Roland Juarez joined the Los Angeles office of Hunton & Williams as partners. Franze also serves as co-chairman of the Virginia-based firm’s national labor and employment practice.

“Hunton is clearly a firm with global reach and has a world-class labor and employment practice,” Franze said. “We are excited to help extend that practice to the West Coast.”

With the addition of Franze and Juarez, Hunton & Williams’ Los Angeles office now houses 16 attorneys.

Franze and Juarez focus their practice on high-stakes class-action defense work. They represent a variety of companies, including those in the hospitality, retail and entertainment industries.


New Name

Los Angeles-based Nossaman LLP just got a makeover.

The firm officially changed its name from Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott LLP to Nossaman and completed a merger with Washington, D.C.-based O’Connor & Hannan LLP.

“People think of and call us Nossaman,” said Michael Heumann, the firm’s managing partner.

After becoming managing partner in 2007, Heumann set out to guide the firm through its first merger, which was part of an overall plan to grow in certain practice areas.

“We wanted to build an office in Washington, D.C., and add other areas consistent with what we do in California, including a lobbying capacity,” Heumann said.

O’Connor & Hannan has 23 attorneys and lobbyists in D.C., and the firm represents corporations before the U.S. Congress and federal agencies.

Heumann said the firm was looking for a team of lawyers whose practices complement the work done by Nossaman attorneys, including its infrastructure and environmental law practices.

The merger gives Nossaman more than 150 attorneys and lobbyists in eight offices nationwide.

After Heumann took the helm of the firm, the complex commercial litigator stopped focusing on his law practice. With an M.B.A. in addition to a law degree, he said he is ready to put his business skills to good use.

“My M.B.A. has always been an asset and given me an additional perspective,” Heumann said. “It’s always hard to evaluate how much of a difference it makes.”


Top Spot

It was celebration time at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP. And not just for a big settlement.

The occasion? It was the first time an L.A.-based firm reached the No. 1 spot on legal trade publication American Lawyer’s annual A-list.

The list ranks law firms based on their revenue per lawyer, pro bono hours, associate satisfaction and diversity.

“We were excited that an L.A. firm had reached the number one ranking and happy that we were the ones to do it,” said Mark Helm, the firm’s co-managing partner.

The firm, which was co-founded by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Vice Chairman Charles Munger, has 190 lawyers. In addition to Berkshire Hathaway, clients also include Boeing Co., Oaktree Capital Management LP and Verizon Communications Inc.

In 2007, the firm’s total revenue was $205 million, and revenue per lawyer increased 11 percent, to $1.14 million from $1.03 million in 2006.

New York-based Debevoise & Plimpton LLP had held the No. 1 spot for the previous four years.


Corporate Boost

The Los Angeles office of Kaye Scholer LLP added corporate finance partner G. Thomas Stromberg last week.

Stromberg, who jumped from the Los Angeles office of Winston & Strawn LLP, focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and private equity. His addition boosts the firm’s corporate and finance department to more than 25 lawyers in Los Angeles.

“I have tried to recruit Tom on multiple occasions,” said Barry Dastin, head of the firm’s corporate and finance department in Los Angeles. “His reputation in the private equity community is a natural fit to a core national practice at Kaye Scholer. We also look forward to taking advantage of his cross border expertise, including his experience working as a lawyer in Japan for several years.”

New York-based Kaye Scholer has 500 lawyers in eight offices.


Staff reporter Alexa Hyland can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.

No posts to display