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Firms Steady on Attorney Hires; Gain on Support Staff

The 51 largest law firms in Orange County stalled on the hiring front last year with a break-even performance that ended a two-year streak of increases.

This week’s Business Journal list ranks law firms in OC by the number of attorneys in local offices.

The overall number of lawyers at the listed firms shrank by 10 in 2012, for a total of 2,104. The drop—a fraction of a percent—was the first collective decline in attorney totals since 2009, when the legal industry here saw a 4.3% decrease.

The list of largest offices here posted a 1.5% increase in the number of lawyers in 2010, and a gain of nearly 3% in 2011.

Overall employment for 2012, including paralegals and other staff, increased last year by nearly 3%, to 4,301 employees.

Close to half of the firms on the list—24—added lawyers in their OC offices over the year. Seven held steady, while 20 firms saw drops.

The rankings for the top five firms were unchanged.

Irvine-based Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP, which solely works on intellectual property cases, again topped the list, with 168 lawyers this year, up by five.

“We continue to focus our growth on internal associates to come up through the ranks,” Managing Partner Steve Nataupsky said. “Our system is quite unique. Oftentimes laterals have a difficult time adjusting to our system, so we don’t hire too many of them. The bulk of our growth has been through internal advancement into partnership.”

Knobbe Martens recently announced the promotion of 11 associates to partnerships, including 10 at its headquarters and one in its Washington, D.C., office. The changes were made effective Jan. 1 and are not reflected on the Business Journal list, which is based on data as of December.

“Technologies are advancing so quickly today, that it’s really boded well for our firm because that’s what we practice,” Nataupsky said.

“We continue to focus our growth on internal associates to come up through the ranks.” —Steve Nataupsky, Managing Partner, Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP

Newport Beach-based Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth, which saw no changes in headcount, remained at No. 3, with 89 lawyers. It has 52 partners in its OC office, an increase of seven (see related story, page 3).

Stradling has five other offices throughout California, and its firmwide attorney headcount was 111, up 9%.

The overall gains were in part due to a “new office expansion in Santa Monica,” according to spokesperson Samantha McDermott.

No. 4 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Irvine had 76 attorneys here at the end of last year, after hiring several associates.

“We did see an increase … with a large incoming fall class and four lateral litigation associates,” said Jeffrey Reeves, partner-in-charge of the OC office. That offset a decline in its number of partners. Three partners retired last year, one took a job with a client, and one was added from the firm’s Los Angeles office, Reeves said.

Among other gainers was the Irvine office of K&L Gates LLP, which has added nine attorneys over the past year for a total of 35, including 15 partners. The roughly 35% increase was the largest percentage jump on the list, which pushed K&L Gates’ ranking up 14 spots to No. 23. The Pittsburgh-based firm has 41 offices across the U.S. and abroad, and has 1,732 lawyers overall, after an 8% decline.

The Irvine office of Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP marked a 4% growth in the past year, debuting on the list at No. 39. It now counts 25 attorneys. Morgan Lewis is another firm on the list that added attorneys to its OC office earlier this month (see related story, page 3).

Another newcomer to the list was Cleveland-based Baker & Hostetler LLP, which has an office in Costa Mesa. The firm has seen an 18% increase in the local office to 20 lawyers, good for the No. 48 spot.

The second-largest law firm in Orange County, Rutan & Tucker LLP, was among the group of firms that saw their numbers drop. The Costa Mesa-based firm’s work force declined by 8% for a total of 134 lawyers.

The firm also saw an 18% reduction in partners, to 77.

“The downturn is a result of some retirement, a small group of labor attorneys moved over to start their own shop, and some trademark attorneys left for new horizons in their careers,” a spokesperson said.

The firm recently promoted five associates to partner, figures not represented on the list.

The Irvine office of Chicago-based McDermott Will & Emery LLP saw a roughly 24% decline in the number of lawyers after a year-earlier growth of 53%. The firm, now ranked No. 23, counts 35 attorneys here, including 19 partners.

“While our number of lawyers varies from time to time, McDermott’s Orange County office is very much in growth mode,” said Dan Foster, partner-in-charge of the OC office. “Looking ahead, we expect to hire more lawyers in 2013 as we work to meet the growing demands of our sophisticated client base.”

McDermott’s firmwide headcount, including attorneys at its 17 other locations, grew by 5%, to 1,100.

“In recent months, we have been proud to expand our representations for our technology clients in particular,” Foster said.

The roster of high-tech companies represented by the firm’s OC office includes Broadcom Corp. in Irvine, Mountain View-based Google Inc. and Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp.

No. 30 Fisher & Phillips LLP saw a 3% decrease in its numbers to 29 local attorneys, sliding three spots from last year’s list.

“We had two of our lawyers go in-house last year with clients, and a few people moved onto other opportunities,” Managing Partner James McDonald said. “We did add five lateral associates and two brand new associates out of law school. We expect two to join us in September, and we’ll be in the market for some laterals in the future.”

Fisher & Phillips has a focus on labor and employment law, and it has seen plenty of work, McDonald said.

“The California legislature has enacted several new employment laws again this year, and the federal agencies have also become more aggressive, with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, for example,” he said. “Labor and employment law remains a busy field.”


Download the 2013 OC’s LARGEST LAW FIRMS list (pdf)

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