Biglaw Firm Reels In Even Bigger Fish

Ed. note: This is the first installment in a new series of posts on lateral partner moves from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Today’s post is written by Michael Allen, the Managing Principal of Lateral Link, who focuses exclusively on partner placements with Am Law 200 clients.

BuckleySandler LLP landed a big fish in Los Angeles. With the firm’s recent hiring of Richard Gottlieb, a well-known class action defense litigator, and Fredrick Levin, a class action and securities litigator, the partners confirm that BuckleySandler’s Los Angeles office (and soon-to-be-opened Chicago office) are serious contenders in the quest for lateral partners. Gottlieb is a heavy hitter in the consumer finance and mortgage class action space, and he developed a very significant book of business with a national client base.

The deal is unique on several levels…

Timing matters, and lack of momentum is typically the main deal killer at this level, but BuckleySandler came to the table ready to close on a great opportunity. Discussions began Friday morning, the deal was finalized on Sunday (with the partners coming together over the weekend), and Gottlieb started work on Monday. It is very rare that a firm can put together a deal with a very serious player like Gottlieb in such little time. In my experience, moving the ball forward is one of the main differences that sets apart firms from one another in competition for lateral partner hires. Many firms would have taken several months, if not a year, to close a partner like Gottlieb.

When Andy Sandler and Ben Klubes left Skadden to form BuckleySandler with the lawyers of Buckley Kolar, they left a battleship to become a speedboat. Even though the firm now has approximately 150 lawyers and made the Am Law 200 cut, BuckleySandler seems to retain the speed and agility of a committed and focused boutique. From a headhunter’s perspective, that is a perfect client (i.e., one that can successfully bring on talent without delay). It is not unusual for our other clients to put candidates through the ringer, which sometimes causes them to lose focus.

While BuckleySandler has made steady progress in building a litigation component in Los Angeles, the addition of Gottlieb and Levin creates critical mass and rapidly accelerates the development of both the firm’s West Coast and nationwide litigation teams.

The Chicago office addition, which is necessary and desirable to serve the firm’s client base in the Midwest, is probably going to be modest to start, which is consistent with how the firm has opened offices in the past. For example, Clint Rockwell opened the L.A. office with one other person in 2007, and the office has now grown to 24 lawyers. Knowing Clint personally, I can confirm that he is serious about organic growth in their offices — the firm doesn’t just take down a big group to enter a new city because of, among other challenges, the importance of preserving the firm’s culture.

Gottlieb and Rockwell are a pair to watch over the next few years.

Disclosure: This series is sponsored by Lateral Link, which is an ATL advertiser.

Lateral Link LLP is one of the largest legal recruiting agencies in the world, with 13 offices in the United States and Asia. Lateral Link has been recognized by the Wall Street Journal, The American Lawyer, the ABA Journal, The Daily Journal, and the National Law Journal for its innovative approach to legal placement. Lateral Link recruiters are comprised of former practicing attorneys who have consistently succeeded in placing partners, associates, general and corporate counsel into some of the most reputable law firms and organizations in the world.