Kirkland & Ellis has launched in the coveted tech market of
Palo Alto, in a move that hands the Chicago-based law firm its third practice in
California, writes The Am Law Daily.
The firm said the move, which comes five years after Kirkland set up an office in San Francisco, was driven by the growth of its Bay Area practice.
"It was not an issue of space," says patent litigator Chadd Taylor, the resident partner of the new branch (he had been practicing in the San Francisco office). "We just want full access to the Bay Area for client relationships and recruiting."
The firm's San Francisco arm, which launched with 12 lawyers, now has over 100, including 40 intellectual property (IP) specialists. The Palo Alto branch, which opened this week, has about 15 lawyers, says Taylor. Plans are to grow the office by another five lawyers in the near future.
Kirkland said that it aimed to expand the practice to up to 40 lawyers. The firm has moved some of its own lawyers to Palo Alto and also brought on local recruits, including one from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Many of Kirkland's West Coast clients - including Samsung and Cisco - will work with lawyers from both offices, Taylor says. Of the firm's 15 Palo Alto lawyers, a dozen specialise in IP and the rest in private equity. Those two practice areas will make up the bulk of the office's work.
The launch underlines the current robust levels of activity in California’s technology community, which has so far withstood the sharp slowdown in the US economy better than rest of the country.
In a notable contrast to the dotcom slump of 2002 and 2003, when many West Coast law firms were forced to make deep job cuts, this time New York-based practices reeling from the prolonged credit squeeze have wielded the axe.
Kirkland's entry into the market coincides with that of several other large law firms. Since January, six firms, including King & Spalding and Baker Botts, have launched Silicon Valley offices.
The Am Law Daily is the website of The American Lawyer, Legal Week's US sister title.
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