Ex-U.S. Fraud Investigator Makes Real Big Shift

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As chief of the major frauds section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, Beong-Soo Kim oversaw the prosecutions of former KB Home executive Bruce Karatz, bankrupt baseball slugger Lenny Dykstra and the bankrupt real estate mogul Ezri Namvar.

Now he’s moving over to private practice – but not in white-collar defense. Instead, Kim has started working as a partner in the issues and appeals practice at Jones Day’s downtown L.A. office. He will handle complex civil litigation and appellate work, and help clients with internal investigations and enforcement matters.

“I was never interested in becoming exclusively a white-collar defense lawyer,” Kim said. “I was interested in trying something new and really putting myself in a position where I’d be able to keep growing as a lawyer.”

Kim, 39, was a litigation associate at downtown L.A. firm Munger Tolles & Olson LLP before starting at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2003. In early 2010, he was promoted to lead the largest white-collar crime section in the country. He said he received calls over the years from law firms gauging his interest in coming over, but wasn’t ready to make a move until now.

Chris J. Lovrien, partner in charge of Jones Day’s local office, described Kim as a “triple threat.”

“He has deep and broad-ranging experience on appellate issues; he has deep substantive experience on investigative matters and he’s also an experienced trial lawyer,” Lovrien said.

Bar Hopping

Since Marc Staenberg took over as executive director of the Beverly Hills Bar Association eight years ago, membership has more than doubled from about 2,500 to 5,400, making it the fifth largest bar association in California.

Because of the growth, the organization recently moved from its home of 42 years on South Beverly Drive to a larger space in the Rolex building at 9420 Wilshire Blvd.

Staenberg attributed the organization’s growth to the strength of its events programming and attorneys’ need to network during the downturn. Also, lawyers like to be associated with the Beverly Hills name.

“I don’t think there’s any question,” he said. “It certainly has a cachet, but what people have come to realize is how incredibly substantive the Beverly Hills Bar Association is. We take very seriously our mission to serve our members, lead the profession and to advocate for justice in the community.”

He said about 50 percent of the association’s lawyers work or live in Beverly Hills.

Staenberg previously considered moving in 2008, but those plans were delayed by the downturn. Once things stabilized somewhat, he started the search for new offices again and even considered space elsewhere on the Westside.

“When we surveyed the members, the overwhelming sentiment was that we should stay in Beverly Hills,” he said, “which made it a little more challenging looking around for real estate.”

Selling the Suburbs

Westlake Village firm Nevers Palazzo Packard Wildermuth & Wynner PC has been around for some 20 years, building business by referrals and word of mouth.

But in recent months, the firm has made several changes, revamping its website and hiring an outside marketer. It also has made personnel changes, bringing in a new attorney and making several internal promotions.

“We decided it was not doing a good service to our client base to be so unknown, so we started doing more,” said Don Palazzo, managing shareholder.

The 12-attorney firm positions itself to clients as a firm that can do sophisticated litigation and transactional work at lower rates than larger rivals. It recruits attorneys who live in the San Fernando Valley or Ventura County and have experience at bigger firms.

“The challenge was how can you attract good talent to the area out here when you’re in suburbia?” Palazzo said. “Finally we realized the geography can work to our benefit. Someone who’s done the big firm grind can do the same quality of work and still go to a teacher conference and coach a kid in soccer or baseball.”

Last month, the firm added attorney Daniel R. Callender from New York-based Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP as counsel. And it recently promoted Roxanne Torabian-Bashardoust to shareholder. Torabian-Bashardoust came from Boston-based Bingham McCutchen LLP. Callender lives in Simi Valley; Torabian-Bashardoust lives in Thousand Oaks.

In May, the firm also changed its name from Never Palazzo Maddux & Packard PLC, making attorneys Michael Wildermuth and Rob Wynner name partners.

Staff reporter Alfred Lee can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 221.

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