Three national law firms have launched L.A. offices in a two-month span, a sign that the local market is on a definite rebound.

Dan Hatch, a partner at San Rafael-based recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa, which helped engineer one of the deals, said he hasn’t seen so much activity since the downturn.

“It signals a resurgence in interest in our market that we haven’t seen too much of in the previous couple of years,” Hatch said. “I would be surprised if you don’t see another opening before the end of the year.”

He helped broker the acquisition of storied 15-attorney boutique White O’Connor Fink & Brenner LLP by white-shoe New York firm Kelley Drye & Warren LLP. White O’Connor, known for handling litigation for TV networks and movie studios, will remain in Century City under the banner Kelley Drye/White O’Connor.

Last month, Dechert LLP also opened an L.A. office with four partners from Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP’s white-collar and securities litigation practice. In late February, Indianapolis-based Barnes & Thornburg LLP took six partners from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP to start an office in Century City.

On the flip side, the news of White O’Connor’s acquisition has also caused some hand-wringing about the future of small independent firms in Los Angeles. In February, five attorneys from Century City entertainment boutique Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein LLP left for the local offices of Washington, D.C.-based Venable LLP. Also, 10 attorneys from local bankruptcy boutique Hennigan Dorman recently left for the downtown L.A. office of New York-based Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP.

But White O’Connor founding partner Andy White, 63, said small firms aren’t in danger. He said his firm turned down dozens of potential acquisition offers over the years, and might never have approved one if Kelley Drye hadn’t offered to cede some of the control of the L.A. office.

“People have said the small local law firm is a dying breed, but I don’t think it is,” he said.

White O’Connor was founded by White and Michael O’Connor after they left what was then Christensen White Miller Fink & Jacobs in 1996. Since then, the firm has worked with studios and networks including CBS, ABC, Disney, Warner Bros. and Fox. Last year, it won a high-profile appellate decision on behalf of CBS in a defamation case involving the show “CSI.”