Westwood litigation boutique Frost LLP has been busy since its founding 13 months ago.

After opening doors in Westwood with four attorneys last summer, the firm’s growth trajectory has its headcount at 22, with at least four law clerks anticipated to join this fall after passing their bar exams. Additionally, to cap off its first anniversary, the firm in June opened an office in New York City as its first expansion.

Co-founder and managing partner Christopher Frost the firm’s work with real estate developers and investors here ultimately paved way for the New York move.

“The goal has never been, ‘What market are we going to invade, where are we going to land next?’ It’s just as the work requires it. We didn’t go to New York; New York basically came to us,” Frost said. “It was those clients who came to us, saying, ‘You’re doing a good job in California, can you do work for us in New York?’ At that point, it became the natural next step.”

The three-attorney New York team is led by Michael Garofola, who also joins as the firm’s first new partner since its inception. A former federal prosecutor, Garofola also was previously an executive at a large publicly traded cannabis company and in-house counsel for an international exporter. He has also in his career picked up experience in other developing industries such as renewable energy and electric vehicles.

“The prospect of leading the New York office brings my career full circle back to New York and the firms where I first developed my skills as a litigator,” Garofola said in a statement. “Now, I return equipped with a wealth of experience and perspective gained from my roles as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice and as in-house counsel.”

Knowledge of and experience with such contemporary industries was part of the equation in bringing Garofola – who oversaw more than 300 cases as an assistant U.S. attorney – into the fold, Frost said.

“That’s a large part of the consideration. The primary consideration is that he’s such a well-rounded attorney, not only in experience but in leadership,” he continued. “To be able to complement that with contemporary types of issues and experiences is certainly a plus and that was one of the driving factors.”

The firm’s growth has had implications here, too. The Westwood headquarters, now mostly built out, has had to take on nearly its entire floor and occupies about 17,000 square feet. Initially on a five-year lease, Frost said he is negotiating for a longer-term lease with the property manager.

In terms of legal matters, Frost said the firm’s various clients – especially in the real estate and sanitation space – have been giving them work throughout the nation. At times, he added, the firm’s attorneys – who count a multitude of spoken languages, professional backgrounds and state bar certifications – are essentially being made outside general counsel for those companies.

“It’s really given us an opportunity to grow not just in the places where we’re physically located but also reach our tentacles in other spaces in the United States and the world,” Frost said. “That’s the real win that we’ve been having lately.”