Morrison Foerster (MoFo) has become the latest Big Law firm to open in Seattle with a litigation team hired from Perkins Coie.
The firm has hired 15 partners from Perkins Coie, most of whom have joined in Seattle for the launch, though at least two work in San Diego. The group has joined across MoFo’s trial, complex litigation, product liability and regulatory practices, and its technology and AI industry groups.
News of the launch coincided with McGuireWoods announcing its own debut in the city with an eight-partner litigation team from Perkins Coie, with the departures occurring in the run-up to the latter’s merger with UK-based Ashurst.
The tie-up is due to go live in the third quarter of this year and is projected to create a 3,000-lawyer firm with offices in 23 countries and revenue in the region of $2.7bn.
MoFo’s new office will be its 19th globally and marks its entrance into the Pacific Northwest. Firm chairman Eric McCrath said Seattle “represents a critical market for technology and regulated industries, areas that are well aligned with our core capabilities and areas of strategic growth”.
“Given our deep tech roots, Seattle has been an important market for the firm for years, and the timing was right for us to get boots on the ground in one of the most active tech hubs in the world,” he added.
The Seattle group includes a former chair of firmwide business litigation at Perkins Coie, David Perez, and top-ranked product liability litigator Brendan Murphy.
It also includes Zachary Davison, Mallory Gitt, Laura Hill, Megan Houlihan, Michelle Maley, Matthew Mertens, Gregory Miller and Eric Weiss, while Ray Hartman and Jacob Speckhard have moved over in San Diego.
The group’s experience spans liability and mass tort capabilities, nationwide consumer class actions, cross-border disputes, constitutional issues, business torts and real estate litigation, particularly for companies in technology, manufacturing, retail, real estate and life sciences.
The Seattle office will be led by existing MoFo partner Michael Glaser, West Coast head of the firm’s emerging companies and venture capital practice, who will split his time between Seattle and San Francisco.
The firm’s launch in Seattle comes just a few days after UK-based insurance heavyweight Clyde & Co announced it was opening in the city through a merger with 32-lawyer litigation defence firm Forsberg & Umlauf.
Another recent entrant was Arnold & Porter, which hired a trio of partners, including two litigators from K&L Gates last July to open in the city.
A Perkins Coie spokesperson commented: “Perkins Coie is grateful for the contributions of our former colleagues, and we wish them well.”
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
