Steptoe & Johnson LLP recently poached an 18-person financial services team led by Julia Strickland from the Century City office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.

That team includes Strickland, three other partner-level attorneys and 14 associates, paralegals and other support staffers. While two attorneys are in New York and Washington, D.C., the remainder are based in Los Angeles, where Strickland had been the head of Stroock’s financial services practice group for 25 years of her 46 with the firm.

“Steptoe’s been on my radar for many years. It’s an excellent firm and very strong in our space,” Strickland said. “Many of the people in our group have been with the group since they were summer associates at Stroock. Some of our team have been with us for 15 to 20 years.

“We have a very solid, stable group, and so I was very committed to moving everyone together for a lot of reasons,” she continued, “some for a pure humanity perspective, but also we felt very strongly that we wanted to provide continuity to our clients.”

Strickland’s exodus is among the latest for Stroock, which in the past year has seen a wave of departures firmwide as it actively seeks to merge with another firm.

In addition to Strickland, the other partners include Stephen Newman and Christopher Fredrich in L.A. and Andrew Owens in New York.

“Julia is a leader of the bar, as well as a nationally recognized litigator for whom I have great admiration,” said Gwen Renigar, chairwoman of Steptoe. “I know (the team) will add tremendous value to our clients in the financial sector, with their sophisticated guidance on complex regulatory requirements in this ever-evolving landscape, their experience with regulators and other state and federal government authorities, as well as their top-notch class action and litigation defense.”
 The transaction significantly expanded Steptoe’s footprint in L.A., bringing the total to 42 attorneys. Strickland signaled there may be more moves to come.

“There is absolutely an appetite for growth in the L.A. office,” she said.