Drew Emmel
Managing partner, Allen Matkins
At Allen Matkins, we expect to see an increase in demand for real estate legal services because of the growing number of transactions and increase in leasing activity.
Our regular commercial litigation practice is expected to remain strong, even as we continue to meet the added demands of the financial industry meltdown.
Further, due to the continued uncertainty in the U.S. and world economies and cautious credit markets, many businesses and municipalities are experiencing sustained or increasing financial distress, all of which fuels a very robust bankruptcy practice.
And finally, demand for our management-side labor and employment law practice continues to reflect increased wage/hour class action and employment discrimination litigation in California.
Ski Harrison
Managing partner, Rutan & Tucker
We expect 2012 to be another year of uncertainty as the economies both in the U.S. and abroad continue on a path to recovery that is not straight.
At this point, we have seen a definite uptick in demand over the past year in real estate, which we expect to continue in 2012. Also the firm’s government and regulatory work remains very strong despite the budgetary crisis in Sacramento. We have adjusted our budget in the past three years to reflect what is happening in the economy and will do so for 2012.
Steven Nataupsky
Managing partner, Knobbe Martens
Because the focus of our practice is limited to IP law, we are not in a position to comment on practice areas that will be challenged in 2012.
The IP law practice will continue to drive business growth in the new year. During the recession, many businesses held on to their cash. As businesses emerge from the doldrums of the recession, they are investing more in research and development that leads to innovation and new technologies that require patent protection, and thus more work for IP firms, including our firm. Strong patent portfolios are often the drivers of successful rounds of venture financing, and potential acquisitions by larger companies in the future. Innovation also leads to new products and marketing campaigns, resulting in an increase in trademark and copyright work.
We expect our IP litigators to continue to be busy in 2012, assisting our clients in enforcing their patents and trademarks against infringing competitors. Our litigators also are very active in defending clients against baseless allegations of infringement, paving the way for increased commercial sales of our clients’ products and services.
Robert Pozin
Managing partner, Troutman Sanders
We expect to sustain our practice and grow in a number of areas. Cases resulting from the financial crisis continue to be brought, and the FDIC has announced its intention to bring additional cases against directors and officers and others affiliated with failed financial institutions. As a result, we expect growth in complex business litigation, bankruptcy and insolvency litigation, and business insurance litigation.
Patent and other intellectual property litigation should remain strong, as businesses continue vigorously to protect their IP rights. Recent court decisions that discourage forum-shopping in distant jurisdictions, and the Central and Northern Districts’ recent adoption of patent panel programs designed to improve the patent litigation process, will help contribute to this practice area.
In our transactional practice, we expect continuing work in real estate loan restructurings and re-financings, and we are starting to see an increase in loan originations.
We also expect growth in multi-family housing financing and in the development and financing of renewable energy (solar and wind) projects.
A challenge that affects many areas of our practice is the continuing uncertainty in the local, national, and global economy, which can affect the frequency, pace and mix of business transactions and litigation. Although there are signs of improvement in the economy, there is still plenty of uncertainty stemming from the U.S. financial situation, the euro zone crisis, the ongoing deadlock in Congress, the 2012 elections, and other factors.
Jeffrey Reeves
Partner in charge, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Approximately 60% of our 73 lawyers in Orange County focus primarily on complex litigation matters. Litigation kept us busy in 2011, and I expect it will continue to be a driver for us in 2012 and beyond. On the corporate side, our transactional lawyers are seeing increasing activity in mergers and acquisitions and capital market transactions as the economy improves. We are expecting transactional work to be a significant driver for us as well in Orange County in the coming year.
Daniel Sasse
Partner, Crowell & Moring
We expect government investigations to continue to play a significant and even increasing role in 2012. The government’s continued focus on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as well as provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act are driving this trend, but Export Controls and False Claims Act investigations are also significant. Our international clients are paying attention to the UK Bribery Act as well as increased enforcement of the antitrust laws across international jurisdictions.
While always popular in Orange County, IP litigation and prosecution will continue to be strong practice areas. With the first-to-file rule going into effect and the popularity of the Central District California for patent litigation, we expect local IP attorneys will be in demand and will remain busy.
We have seen a significant increase in consumer class action suits challenging representations made by manufacturers and marketers, especially in the “green advertising” arena.
Real estate and construction law—while there are glimmers of hope—these areas are likely to remain challenging in 2012.
Leonard Shulman
Managing partner, Shulman Hodges & Bastian
Expansion in the manufacturing and production sector would necessarily give rise to increased legal work in the corporate, IP and real estate contexts. Further, additional work would be created in the merger and acquisition field.
The biggest question will be what impact the European debt crisis will have on the U.S. economy. If—and that is a big “if”—this crisis can be averted or materially muted, then there will be a further easing in the credit markets, giving rise to available dollars for companies to expand. Unfortunately, however, companies and individuals who cannot overcome the fallout over the past several years of the recession will continue to need bankruptcy or insolvency related work. As for legal work, initial public offerings will still be a laggard in terms of flow. Thus related securities work should continue to limp along together with real estate development work.
Jeff Walbridge
Managing partner, O’Melveny & Myers
With the economy still unsettled, it’s difficult for anyone to predict the pace of business in 2012. We are advising a number of prominent companies in Orange County who are thoughtfully eyeing potential transactions with a cautious optimism. That being said, we’d expect a larger uptick in litigation work in the coming year as companies eye future growth and want to protect their assets.
James J. Scheinkman
Partner, Snell & Wilmer
We expect a fair amount of mergers and acquisitions activity in 2012. The fact that business multiples are relatively strong, credit markets for midmarket businesses stable, and the threat of capital gains and other tax increases looms in 2013 may convince some sellers to take their chips off the table. Similar to late 2010, even if tax rates are ultimately not increased, once some sellers have initiated putting their companies up for sale, they are less likely to pull back.
Joseph Coleman
Partner, Snell & Wilmer
Real estate will continue to struggle in 2012. With the exception of multifamily housing, there has been little, if any, new construction or development in any of the other sectors of the commercial real estate market. It seems likely that this trend will continue in 2012.
