Lateral hiring of attorneys in the health care industry has picked up recently, with several local partners switching firms since February.
Barry J. Thompson, who defends pharmaceutical and medical device companies against product liability lawsuits, said firms started recruiting him regularly nine months ago. Thompson added that firms without a Southern California base have been looking especially to tap into local expertise in life sciences products.
He jumped from Reed Smith LLP’s downtown L.A. office, where he’d been for 17 years, to Hogan Lovells LLP in Century City.
“It’s really no question that the phone was ringing a lot more,” he said. “Other national firms that do life sciences products work are trying to come in and create opportunities.”
By heading to Hogan, the 48-year-old Thompson is going against the current. Hogan’s local office has fewer than 30 attorneys, down from around 50 in 2010. Many of the departures, including a star team of intellectual property litigators led by Richard de Bodo, were the result of client conflicts after the May 2010 merger of Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson and London-based Lovells. In November, six media and entertainment partners left Hogan for Jenner & Block LLP.
“I had an opportunity to explore why people left and to talk with firm management, and was confident at the end that they’ve got a renewed commitment to L.A. and an office with 50 to 100 lawyers downstream,” Thompson said.
He declined to give his book of business, but said it was in the seven-figure range.
Stephen Kay, office managing partner, said Thompson complemented the firm’s national practice.
“This has been an area that we have been particularly interested in building upon,” he said. “The firm’s very much committed to the growth of the office.”
Building Out West
Reed Smith has lost another pharmaceutical and medical device litigator in Ginger Pigott. The 44-year-old attorney was poached by Miami-based Greenberg Traurig LLP, which has a strong national practice run by Lori Cohen in Atlanta.
“The move primarily arose out of a really longstanding relationship with Lori Cohen,” Pigott said. “She and Greenberg were looking to continue their expansion both geographically on the West Coast and nationally.”
Jeff Scott, office co-managing shareholder, said Pigott gives the Santa Monica office a senior partner in the area that it previously lacked.
“We have other lawyers who have worked in this space but they probably tend to be No. 2 or No. 3 lawyers on teams,” he said. “We think Ginger is going to build a nice strong group for us out here and expect it to expand significantly in the coming years.”
The speed of the Internet and social media in spreading information about potential safety problems with pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices is changing the practice, Pigott said.
“We see more and more individuals and their attorneys taking a look at what’s available online, and that’s both a good thing and can be a challenge in terms of making sure you understand what’s out there,” she said.
The firm is planning to move its L.A. offices from Santa Monica to Century City sometime next month.
Polsinelli Expansion
Another national firm pushing to expand in Los Angeles is Polsinelli Shughart PC, which opened a local office last year by acquiring six-attorney Century City firm Quateman LLP.
The new office’s first lateral hire came last month, when it picked up health care attorney Larry Conn from Foley & Lardner LLP, based in Milwaukee. Conn, 52, represents hospital systems and other health care providers on regulatory matters.
His practice has gotten busier since the passage of federal health care reform in 2010, due particularly to changes in the Stark Law, which regulates fraud and abuse by physicians who accept Medicare and Medicaid money.
Under new changes, if a health care provider becomes aware at any time it wrongly received federal reimbursement of Medicare or Medicaid money, it’s under obligation to refund that money within 60 days.
“It’s led to a number of preemptive internal investigations as well as investigations initiated by the government,” Conn said. “That has really increased the burden on hospitals and other health care providers to ensure strict compliance.”
Lisa Quateman, head of Polsinelli’s office, said the merger led to Conn’s hire, thanks to the firm’s national presence in health care law.
“We recruited more slowly at Quateman,” she said. “We now have a very attractive platform for qualified laterals.”
Staff reporter Alfred Lee can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 221.
