Although Charlie Read spent most of his legal career at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, L.A.’s largest law firm, he said he was a “one-man band” there when it came to attorneys specializing in energy regulation.
Read left as co-chair of O’Melveny’s energy, natural resources and environmental group to join Jones Day’s downtown L.A. office as a partner April 15. It wasn’t an easy call to make, but he was drawn by the prospect of leading the regulated utility practice in California for Jones Day, which is more of a national player in that sector.
“I was looking for a firm that had a substantial energy platform, including other attorneys in the energy regulatory arena,” he said. “Jones Day certainly fits that description, particularly on a national basis. They do not have quite the same depth here in California, which is why I think they were interested in me.”
The 60-year-old Read had been at O’Melveny since 1976, excepting a three-year stint at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington, D.C. He has helped utility companies and investors deal with the Federal Energy Regulatory and California Public Utilities commissions throughout his career. He estimates his book of business at O’Melveny was between $5 million to $8 million, but there weren’t many other attorneys in his area of expertise, nor the collection of clients available at Jones Day.
“I think that limits one’s effectiveness,” he said. “That was not going to be a focus of O’Melveny’s strategic plans.”
Read believes some form of federal energy legislation will eventually be passed, and increase the demand for attorneys specializing in energy regulation.
Rich McKnight, partner in charge of Jones Day’s downtown L.A. office, agreed.
“I think we will continue to expand that practice because we see this as an area where corporate America really wants the best advice,” McKnight said. “I think that’s due in part with changes of energy policy, with the recognition there’s got to be a re-examination of energy practices globally and a renewed inquiry and interest in green alternatives.”
Outside Gun
Century City firm Irell & Manella LLP is known to promote almost exclusively from within, but the firm hired Greg Gardella away in mid-April from the Minneapolis office of Fish & Richardson PC to head its patent re-examination practice. It’s the first partner-level addition since 2006, when former Enron prosecutor John Hueston joined from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
What makes Gardella so special? He’s probably not the one to ask.
“I had asked (Irell partner) Morgan Chu if he’d been to the eye doctor the day he read my resume,” Gardella said. “I didn’t seem all that special, at least to myself. I think what it was was I’m a jigsaw puzzle piece that fits in well with where they want to go.”
Where “they” want to go is patent re-examination, a growing sector of intellectual property law in which Gardella specializes. More companies in patent disputes are turning to re-examination, in which the U.S. Patent Office rules on patent validity out of court as a cheaper alternative to full-blown litigation, he said.
Gardella, who also holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota, has represented parties in more than 40 re-examination matters, including a victory that protected hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for Halo Electronics Inc., which was seeking to uphold six of its patents for surface mount components in computers.
Elliot Brown, Irell managing partner, said Gardella’s addition further rounded out their “very deep bench” of IP attorneys.
“Greg is one of the preeminent attorneys in the area of patent re-examinations,” Brown said. “We have to a large degree developed the talent we need to keep our firm running well internally. Our lateral hiring has largely come about when someone really outstanding is available and is a good fit.”
West Coast Launch
Reed Smith LLP has added Michael S. Sherman as a partner in its corporate and securities group in Century City. Sherman comes from Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP, where he was chair of the entertainment industries group. Sherman, who specializes in entertainment finance, had been there since 1987, but had been looking for a practice with a stronger global presence. He has clients in London; Mumbai, India; Paris; and New Zealand.
“I agonized over it for quite a long time, but I thought the opportunity here was just so intriguing and exciting that I thought at this point in my career, with all the experience I had, I could bring something to Reed Smith they haven’t really had in Los Angeles before,” Sherman said.
When Reed Smith merged with London-based Richards Butler LLP in 2007, it acquired a well-known media practice in London, but hasn’t been able to expand that practice in Los Angeles, said John Iino, vice chair of Reed Smith’s business and finance department.
“We’ve been attempting and trying to launch our West Coast entertainment finance practice, but it’s a tough nut to crack. And we’re very pleased that we were able to find someone with Michael’s credentials and talents to start the practice here,” Iino said.
Staff reporter Alfred Lee can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 221.
