A group of attorneys has left Kirkland & Ellis LLP and jumped to Jones Day LLP, giving the latter firm a bankruptcy practice in downtown Los Angeles.
The addition of partners Rick Wynne and Bennett Spiegal, plus of counsels Lori Sinanyan and Erin Brady two weeks ago is part of Jones Day’s efforts to expand its presence in Southern California. Also joining the 2,300-attorney firm’s bankruptcy practice are three associates two in Los Angeles and one in New York.
“One of the big attractions for us was that Jones Day did not have a bankruptcy group in Los Angeles,” Wynne said.
Jones Day has bankruptcy and restructuring attorneys in its New York office, where a significant number of bankruptcy cases are filed.
Wynne said the group also decided to join Jones Day because the firm is putting a new emphasis on its Southern California offices. It recently opened an outpost in Irvine as part of the push.
“We think there will be a lot more West Coast-based restructuring work in the next few years,” Wynne said. “And Jones Day has a huge commitment to this marketplace.”
The group’s departure leaves Kirkland & Ellis with three restructuring partners in the firm’s downtown L.A. office.
The attorneys left the firm as a group because of their longstanding working relationship. Wynne first met Spiegal in the 1980s. They have practiced with Sinanyan and Brady for more than seven years.
Currently, the group is involved in the out-of-court restructuring of Station Casinos Inc., a Las Vegas casino company. For the past six months, the group has been representing a committee of bondholders who hold $2.5 billion worth of Station Casino bonds.
The group is also representing the owner of a Portland, Ore., ethanol plant that is reorganizing under Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Gaming Attorney
When Roxanne Christ was playing the newest Sony Online Entertainment LLC video game “Free Realms” in her office, no one raised an eyebrow.
That’s because Christ, a partner in downtown L.A.-based Latham & Watkins LLP, was doing legal research.
However, she did have to call the IT department and have them disable the filters the firm uses to prevent viewing unauthorized sites.
“And I could easily explain why I needed to do that,” she said.
Christ and three other Latham lawyers have been working on the “Free Realms” project with Sony since 2007. The game, which debuted in late April, allows players to create their own characters, do puzzles and chat with friends or share pictures it’s a combination of a virtual world, game site and social networking page.
Christ’s assignment was to help Sony executives develop “Free Realms'” privacy policy, terms and conditions, and user registration. To do so, she had to meet the requirements of a variety of jurisdictions.
“It’s the kind of work where the client picks up the phone and answer questions as we go,” Christ said. “We are part of the team.”
Christ started as an intellectual property lawyer more than 20 years ago, and has since developed a specialty in the video game industry.
Even when Christ isn’t doing research for clients, she still enjoys playing games.
Her favorite: “I used to play ‘Mario Kart’ with my kids when they were little. I loved that.”
Labor Intensive
After practicing at West L.A. firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP for more than a decade, Dan Forman decided to join a boutique labor and employment law firm in response to his clients’ demands for cheaper billing rates.
“I had clients who were asking for rate reductions and asking me to refer them to reasonably priced litigators,” Forman said. “And now I have the pleasure of being a reasonably priced litigator.”
Forman, who joined the downtown L.A. office of Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP as partner in late April, is one of several local attorneys who have moved to smaller firms in order to offer their clients more affordable rates. Manatt Phelps is home to 450 attorneys; Carlton DiSante houses 40.
Forman said his clients, including Westamerica Bancorp., Yamasaki Insurance Agency and Da Vinci Dental Studios, are mostly midmarket local companies that don’t want to pay expensive legal bills especially in the current economic climate.
What’s more, the recessionary environment is forcing Forman’s clients to call on him more frequently because they need his legal advice before laying off employees, imposing furloughs and reducing salaries.
“Employers, especially midmarket and entrepreneurs who don’t have a human resources staff or in-house counsel, need more than ever to seek out employment counsel,” Forman said.
Staff reporter Alexa Hyland can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 235.
