Irvine on Agenda; Wall’s New Digs; Gross X 2

Irvine continues to punch well above its weight as it grows into a globally renowned center of commerce. The latest example came when Clement CM Leung, the Washington, D.C.-based Hong Kong Commissioner for the U.S., dropped by the Business Journal’s office to make a pitch for the Special Administrative Region as a bridge between businesses here and mainland China. His itinerary included five much larger cities: L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas and San Antonio. But don’t think for a minute that Irvine was some brief rest stop between L.A. and S.D. The affable Leung also called on Irvine Mayor Steven Choi and made speeches to the Irvine Chamber and UC-Irvine’s Merage School of Business … Not everyone can gracefully overcome a near-stumble on stage at a packed Segerstrom Concert Hall. Or do it in an electric-green, sequined, floor-length, form-fitting dress. Or carry on to wow the crowd with a rousing rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G major, Op. 44. Yuja Wang managed all that last week as a headliner for the Russian National Orchestra, which brought its 25th Anniversary tour to OC last week, giving Costa Mesa some local bragging rights on global ties, too … 2015 was another bang-up year for M&A in OC, and you can get the numbers in Michael de los Reyes’ front-page piece and this week’s Special Report, which starts on page 19 and includes lists of the Top 10 acquisitions and sales by OC-based companies last year … Then there’s M&A specialist George Wall, who’s a bit of a local bellwether himself. Wall finished up last year strong by handling several hundred million dollars’ worth of Q4 deals for Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker,  and he’s off to a hot start this year as the newly hired head of the M&A practice at Glaser Weil LLP … Glaser Weil is based in L.A. but has long been familiar with OC, handling IP work for one of the largest privately held companies based here, not to mention some big matters for Bill Gross, who has retained partner Patty Glaser for his lawsuit against PIMCO, which seeks in excess of several hundred million dollars from his old company … Glaser Weil has another tie to Gross—the firm’s newly minted OC operation is in the space he initially took when he left PIMCO, moved next door to 520 Newport Center, and set up shop on the fourth floor under the Janus banner. Gross has since moved up to bigger digs on the 14th … Another heavyweight of the OC legal landscape who also keeps a foot in L.A. has an gorgeous new way-station in the PacMutual Building, a recently renovated Beaux Arts beauty beside the Biltmore in downtown L.A. That’s where Hueston Hennigan upgraded to some tres chic space that’s heavy on raw cement floors, open ceilings and exposed brick walls. OC-based partner John Hueston has a nice chunk of office up there to go with his home base at the year-old firm’s outpost at 620 Newport Center … Hueston Hennigan’s L.A. office debuted with some dramatic touches, thanks to artworks by Hueston’s son, Ryan, who seems to be a definite modernist with a heightened sense of the power of color … The younger Hueston might have found a niche market with law offices—irrepressible litigator Wayne Gross trekked up to Hueston Hennigan’s first-anniversary party last week and was overheard mulling a possible purchase of a chromatic canvas to further dress up Greenberg Gross’ 17th-floor digs at the Center Tower in Costa Mesa.