Bryan Cave hits streets of San Francisco

The new office, which will focus on corporate, commercial, litigation and real estate work, will be headed up by litigation partner Lynn McCreary and target Bay Area clients and northern California.

McCreary, who was previously based at the firm's Kansas City office, specialises in civil litigation, employment work and white-collar criminal defense.

She commented: "This opening clearly demonstrates Bryan Cave's commitment to the San Francisco marketplace and we anticipate announcing local additions to our new office in the near future."

Bryan Cave chairman Don Lents added: "Establishing a San Francisco office is consistent with one of our strategic goals, which is to position ourselves to address our clients' legal needs in key markets and practices."

The new branch is the firm's third in the state of California, where the firm has around 100 lawyers based in Los Angeles and Irvine.

Kansas-based corporate partner Herb Kohn will relocate to San Francisco on a temporary basis, while counsel Patricia Wyrod and a number of associates will be switching permanently.

The news comes after Bryan Cave last year opened overseas offices in Milan and Hamburg, as well as cementing an affiliation with Chinese firm Alpha & Leader to supplement its own offices in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

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