Hogan & Hartson picks up Heller group in S.F. move
San Francisco Business Times - by Eric Young
Hogan & Hartson LLP became the first out-of-town law firm to enter the Bay Area after picking up lawyers from Heller Ehrman LLP, which voted to break up.
Hogan & Hartson said it hired four former Heller attorneys to open a San Francisco office and four former Heller lawyers to open an office in Silicon Valley. The San Francisco attorneys are Michael Shepard, Douglas Schwab, Howard Caro and Megan Dixon. In Silicon Valley the lawyers are Norman Blears, Michael Charlson, Robert Hawk and Laurence Weiss.
The hires will bulk up Hogan’s securities, white collar, consumer class action, antitrust, mergers and acquisitions and employment litigation practices.
Founded in Washington D.C., Hogan has more than 1,100 lawyers in 27 offices around the world. The firm had an office in Los Angeles prior to opening the two locations in the Bay Area.
Partners at Heller Ehrman last month voted to dissolve the business, the final chapter of a 118-year-old law firm that had been among San Francisco’s most prestigious. Unlike other law firms hurt by a downturn in credit markets, Heller’s ails were brought on by a downturn in litigation work. A number of big litigation cases settled at the same time last year, hurting the firm’s revenues. Then a steady outflow of partners this year caused the 570-attorney firm to seek a merger partner to shore up its condition. A number of mergers fell through, however, prompting the firm’s partnership to vote to disband.
Lawyers from Heller have gone to a number of other firms already in the Bay Area, including Cooley Godward Kronish LLP, Jones Day, Sidley Austin LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP and Covington & Burling LLP.
eyoung@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4969
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