Biglaw

Biglaw Boom In Beantown

Boston is a bright spot in the legal landscape.

By  
on

The legal landscape may be “blah” as we head into 2018, but that doesn’t mean there’s no good news. While the majority of the industry is seeing flat demand overall, it seems there is a bright spot of expansion in Boston with several Biglaw shops setting up or expanding their operations in the city.

Quinn Emanuel has decided to open up an office in Boston. The firm sees a unique opening for their litigation-only business model. As reported by Big Law Business, firm leaders John Quinn and William Urquhart believe the lack of conflicts from transactional side work will be a benefit for their Boston office:

“We have been looking at Boston for a long time,” Managing Partner John B. Quinn said in a Dec. 26 statement emailed to Bloomberg Law. “We are convinced there is a market for a top tier litigation-only firm that is relatively free of the conflicts which full service firms have. Boston is also a high-tech hotbed,” Quinn said

“It is a well-known fact that almost all the big, full service firms that are among the AmLaw 100 will not bring suit against the money center banks because doing so would endanger their transactional business, which is the life blood of most of these firms,” William Urquhart, managing partner, told Bloomberg Law Dec. 27, in an email.

“We are one of a very few law firms which will do that and it is not at an informational or resource handicap as with the big transactional firms,” Urquhart said.

“Our firm has recovered literally tens of billions for our clients as a result of trial judgments and settlements from the big banks,” Urquhart said.

Kirkland & Ellis is also making moves in Beantown. The firm opened an office in Boston earlier this year and just hired Michael Sartor, a private equity partner from McDermott Will & Emery, for that office. In October, K&E also picked up another private equity partner for the Boston office, grabbing Jason Serlenga, formerly of Ropes & Gray.

DLA Piper also made a big move in Boston, adding former private equity practice group chair from Nutter McClennen & Fish, Adam Ghander, as part of the firm’s expansion plans. As Law.com reports, DLA’s Boston office has more than doubled in size since it opened in 2003:

DLA Piper’s Boston base officially opened in January 2003 when predecessor firm Piper Rudnick absorbed a group of 33 lawyers from Hill & Barlow, one of the city’s oldest law firms that dissolved in December 2002. DLA Piper’s Boston office now boasts a 76-lawyer team, which ironically enough will be the smallest firm office that Ghander has worked in, he joked.

Hogan Lovells has a new presence in Boston too. In October, they absorbed a litigation boutique, Collora, in an effort in increase their life science practice. Hogan Lovells CEO Steve Immelt also notes the benefits HoLove will reap in having a Boston base:

Sponsored

“The Boston region is a key strategic market in the United States.  Although we have worked closely with clients in the area for years, it more recently became clear to us that there was a need for an office that had strong roots in the community,” said Hogan Lovells CEO Steve Immelt. “Collora is a firm that shares our values, our culture and our approach. We have worked with them for many clients over the years. It has highly regarded practices in litigation and investigations, with a particular focus in life sciences, which fits very well with our own practices. We also intend to focus on the financial services, technology industries and education sectors, where we already have strong practices in other markets. We are delighted to welcome the Collora team and look forward to working with them for the benefit of our clients.”

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice became Womble Bond Dickinson following a merger with Bond Dickinson and opened a Boston office this fall. As part of that expansion, they also added three intellectual property partners to the new office — Danielle Herritt, Deborah Vernon, and Cristin Cowles, formerly of McCarter & English. The firm noted client needs as a motivating factor in the growth:

“It basically comes down to clients [and] each of our offices has been opened in response to client needs,” said Sarah Keefe, who relocated from Raleigh to become managing partner of Womble’s Boston office.

We’ve gotten used to somewhat grim reports on the state of the legal profession, so it’s nice to see this Bostonian bright spot on the horizon.

Sponsored

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Topics

, , , , , ,