Former Firm Continues to Deliver for New Partners

0

Century City-based Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP has added another veteran from Jeffer Mangels Butler & Marmaro LLP to the fold.

Earlier this month, land-use attorney John Bowman joined Elkins Kalt, founded in January by six former partners at Jeffer Mangels, as a partner.

Bowman, a partner at Jeffer Mangels for more than 12 years, said switching to the smaller firm would allow for “greater flexibility and adaptability” in dealing with clients.

“Immediately after learning that my current partners were forming their own firm in January, I was very intrigued about that move and began speaking with some of my partners here,” Bowman said. “Keith (Elkins) and Scott (Kalt) represent some of the major players in the real estate industry, and there is an opportunity here for me to work with some of their clients.”

Some of the clients he’ll bring with him include Clarett Group, the developer of a 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project in Hollywood called Blvd 6200, and manufacturer United States Gypsum Corp.

As the only full-time land-use attorney at Elkins Kalt, Bowman would help round out the fledgling firm’s “A-Team,” said name partner Keith Elkins.

Counting Bowman, 12 of the firm’s 16 attorneys were formerly at Jeffer Mangels.

“We have a fairly long list of people interested in joining the firm,” Elkins said. “We’re going to be careful about that though, and grow foxily.”

Name partner Scott Kalt didn’t rule out the possibility of landing more Jeffer Mangels attorneys.

“We have no immediate plans to take anyone else, but who knows,” Kalt said.

Rebolstering Restructurings

After nine years at Manatt Phelps & Philips LLP, where he was co-chair of the firm’s bankruptcy and financial restructuring group, Alan Feld has joined the downtown L.A. office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP as a partner.

Feld, 44, said Sheppard Mullin’s international presence was a good fit for his practice, which focuses on international as well as domestic bankruptcy and restructuring issues. Feld said he has handled several large cross-border restructurings, with an emphasis on Latin America.

“It was a strategic move, really, to join a much larger, much more well-established bankruptcy practice that’s expanding nationwide and beyond,” Feld said.

He declined to name who his clients were at Manatt Phelps, saying only that they included “major financial institutions and funds.” He expects most of his clients to follow him to Sheppard Mullin.

Chairman Guy Halgren said the hiring is part of a restocking of Sheppard Mullin’s bankruptcy practice in Los Angeles.

“In Los Angeles, bankruptcy has been one of the strengths of our firm, but we have had a few retirements in the last couple years and it’s important to rebolster our capacity,” Halgren said. “Six or seven of our top 20 clients are financial institutions, so having a real strong creditor rights practice throughout the firm is important to us.”

Good Terms

Dylan Pollard and Matt Bailey left downtown L.A.-based Khorrami Pollard & Abir LLP, where Pollard was a name partner, and started plaintiff-side litigation boutique Pollard Bailey on May 1 – but they swear they’re on good terms with their old colleagues.

“I anticipate we will be reaching to Mr. Khorrami’s firm, and him to us, to co-counsel cases,” Pollard said. “We left on good terms, which may be unusual, but that’s the type of people Matt and I are.”

Pollard said that Shawn Korrami, founding partner of Khorrami Pollard, has already indicated he would like to work jointly on cases in the future.

Pollard specializes in catastrophic injury litigation. Bailey, an associate at Khorrami Pollard, specializes in class-action litigation involving business-related injuries. At Khorrami Pollard, both worked on the consolidated Hurricane Katrina barge litigation involving the failure of New Orleans floodwalls.

Pollard also was instrumental in settling mass tort cases over the prescription drugs Zyprexa, Bextra, Celebrex and Vioxx.

Neither is bringing clients to their new firm, considering the one-off nature of their practice areas.

“It always helps when you don’t steal the old firm’s business,” Pollard said.

Bailey said he hoped to add a couple of people within the next two years.

“At Khorrami Pollard, the focus was more on quantity,” Bailey said. “For both of us it was really our desire to say, ‘Let’s have a smaller set of cases we’re working on and litigate these cases as hard as possible.’”

Khorrami could not be reached for comment.

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

No posts to display