The 89 firms that made this year’s list added 19 OC attorneys for a total of 2,758 lawyers. The firms added 15 new partners for a total of 1,260.
“We saw a surge of activity in the technology, healthcare and life sciences, and energy sectors,” said Michele Johnson, a partner in the Costa Mesa office of Latham & Watkins LLP.
“The first two were particularly active areas here in Orange County. We have such a dynamic and vibrant tech and life sciences community that I expect continued growth in those areas” while real estate in Southern California remains an active market.
Latham & Watkins’ OC office added seven attorneys for a total of 80, helping it jump two slots to No. 3. The local office also features two partners who run global departments for the firm, which has about 3,000 attorneys spread across more than 30 offices. Besides Johnson, who has been the global chair of the litigation and trial department since 2019, it also features Latham partner Charles Ruck, who practices in Orange County and New York. He was named the global chair of the corporate department on March 9.
The Business Journal’s annual list ranks the firms based on local attorneys, with a cutoff of 10 lawyers.
The list showed the largest firms employ 5,203 in Orange County, a 2.9% decline from a year ago. Firmwide, they employed 37,081 attorneys, a 2.6% increase.
Among the highlights:
• Knobbe Martens in Irvine kept its place at the largest OC law firm by attorney count despite dipping slightly to 147, down two lawyers from the year before.
“Throughout the pandemic, we helped companies in the healthcare space that were developing vaccines and other inventions to care for patients,” Knobbe Managing Partner Steven Nataupsky told the Business Journal. “I think this work will continue and grow.”
• Rutan & Tucker LLP has moved into new offices along Jamboree Road though its lawyers and staff are still working from home for the most part. It stayed in the No. 2 spot with 137 lawyers, according to the Business Journal survey.
In terms of taking care of clients, working from home, hiring and maintaining the firm’s financial health, “the year turned out actually very well for us,” Managing Partner Mark Frazier told the Business Journal.
• The Irvine office of Los Angeles powerhouse Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP with 79 lawyers, moved up to No. 4, jumping three notches from last year’s ranking.
• Rounding out the leaders at No. 5 was Bremer, Whyte, Brown & O’Meara LLP based in Newport Beach, which added one lawyer to reach 77 local attorneys.
The rest of the top 10:
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth PC in Newport Beach, steady at No. 6 with 74 local lawyers.
• Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP in Costa Mesa fell four places to No. 7 as its attorney count decreased to 73.
• Snell & Wilmer also in Costa Mesa, steady at No. 8 as its local attorney count remained at 66.
• Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP in Irvine, formed by a merger last year, was in ninth place with 58 local lawyers.
• Newmeyer Dillion in Newport Beach moved up one place to No. 10 with a steady lawyer headcount of 56.
• The local office of Los Angeles-based O’Melveny & Myers LLP slipped three places to No. 12, as the attorneys in its Newport Beach office dipped to 54 from 58 last year, while Jones Day in Irvine slipped two places to No. 15 as its attorney count was trimmed by one to 48 lawyers. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Costa Mesa moved up one notch to No. 16 with 42 lawyers in a three-way tie.
“To the extent that OC firms were affected by the pandemic, I think the legal community will recover through the course of the year as courts return to business as usual. The closures of state and federal courts affected several firms as litigation cases were delayed.”
“Now that vaccines are becoming more widely available, courts are starting the reopening process. It will take a while to catch up on the backlog, but litigators will become busier, which will be the foundation for the recovery.”
“Knobbe Martens limits its practice to intellectual property. Throughout the pandemic, we helped companies in the healthcare space that were developing vaccines and other inventions to care for patients. I think this work will continue and grow.”
