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Jones Day Hires for Corporate Practice

The Irvine office of Jones Day has hired a lawyer from Latham & Watkins LLP to form a corporate law practice.

John Beeson, a former partner at Los Angeles-based Latham’s Costa Mesa office, specialized in mergers and acquisitions, financing and general corporate work in the past 12 years at Latham.

He’s now charged with building a corporate practice for the Irvine office of Washington, D.C.-based Jones Day, which has litigation, intellectual property, labor and employment and other practices.

The move is the latest in a series for the county’s crowded legal market as lawyers and firms seek to shore up practices amid the downturn in real estate and the economy.

Beeson’s expected to recruit other lawyers to expand Jones Day’s corporate practice to six or seven people in the next six months.

“This is a unique opportunity for me to build a department with the resources of an international firm behind me,” Beeson said.


Past Clients

Beeson has done work for Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc., Fullerton medical diagnostic instrument company Beckman Coulter Inc., Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Aliso Viejo and other companies.

He was mum about whether those clients will follow him to Jones Day. He said he hopes to bring some work from Latham.

It’s unclear if more lawyers are set to leave Latham’s Costa Mesa office to follow Beeson.

Latham remains on friendly terms with Beeson.

He “has been a good colleague and member of our corporate department in Orange County,” said Scott Shean, local Latham managing partner. “We wish him well.”

Jones Day is returning to corporate work here after shifting focus in the 1990s.

It wants to win work with midsize public and private companies that need help with global business deals, managing partner Richard Grabowski said.

“We want to grow our corporate practice significantly and John will lead our effort to do that,” Grabowski said.

Jones Day, the No. 19 firm operating in the county by lawyers, has been growing. On the Business Journal’s January list of law firms, Jones Day moved up six spots from No. 25 a year earlier.

The firm has doubled its headcount in Irvine to some 40 lawyers in the past year by recruiting partners and associates.

In May, Jones Day hired litigators Richard Ruben, Ralph Blakeney and Darren Cotriel from the Costa Mesa office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw & Pittman LLP.

In March, labor and employment partners Robert Naeve and Steven Zadravecz joined from Morrison & Foerster LLP’s Irvine office, which now is closed.

And in January, securities lawyers Eric Landau and Shawn Harpen left the Irvine office of McDermott Will & Emery for Jones Day.


Competitive

The local legal market has become more competitive this year with firms vying for work from a handful of clients that are able to pay national rates.

Jones Day, unlike some global law firms, is trying to grow its presence here while some are struggling to stay in the county.

Morrison & Foerster closed its Irvine office in June after several partner defections including the departure of Dean Zipser and litigation partner Tom Umberg, who joined the Costa Mesa office of Los Angeles-based Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP in May.

Rumors have circulated about a possible shuttering of the local office of San Francisco-based Pillsbury.

The firm once counted 20 lawyers in OC but after a series of departures in the past year is down to three.

Pillsbury is committed to OC, managing partner Craig Barbarosh said in an earlier interview.

Some global law firms are struggling to adapt to the county’s middle-market economy, especially in a down economy when companies are less willing to pay higher rates for routine corporate legal work.

Some wonder if it is wise for Jones Day to stock up on lawyers now.

“The current downturn in the economy is temporary and at some point it will turn around,” Grabowski said. “We’re in this for the long term.

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