LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL ® WEEK OF DECEMBER 24, 2007

RINGO H.W. CHIU/LABJ Growth: From left, Manatt Phelps lawyers Paul Irving, Hale Boggs, Lisa Specht, George Kieffer and Gordon Bava. Planting Flags Law firm Manatt Phelps reaches S.F. Bay Area in recent expansion

BY DREW COMBS As a result, Manatt Phelps will have 50 an increase from the $196 million the firm Staff Reporter lawyers in the city, highlighting the firm’s generated in 2005. Quicksilver said he expects selected growth strategy, which is likely to revenues to rise again this year. HEN Manatt Phelps & Phillips propel it into the ranks of the nation’s top 100 The firm’s selected growth strategy seems threw a party to celebrate the open - law firms. to be working. Wing of its office last “This combination enhances our resources In recent years, most top tier law firms month, the event drew big names: Mayor nationwide but most importantly it gives us have committed to one of several growth, or Gavin Newsome, state Supreme Court Chief much better positioning in Northern survival, strategies: Some have emerged as Justice Ron George, state Attorney General ,” Quicksilver said. “It extends our intensely regional firms or developed national - . reach in San Francisco and provides us a bet - ly focused boutique practices, while others In greeting them and the rest of the crowd, ter platform to recruit additional talent and have morphed into or been acquired by nation - managing partner Bill Quicksilver emphasized service clients.” al firms with offices all over the country. the firm’s commitment to growing in the San The deal will bring the attorney headcount Manatt Phelps has taken a combination Francisco Bay Area. But what he didn’t reveal at the law firm, which has offices in New approach: The firm has concentrated on was that Manatt was on the verge of expand - York, Washington, D.C., and other cities, close California, while also growing in Washington ing its 12-attorney presence quickly and dra - to 360 and could boost its revenue by more and . matically. than $30 million. “We knew we needed to grow but it has The L.A.-based law firm announced Nov. In American Lawyer magazine’s ranking of never been about being in a bunch of far-flung 30 that it would combine with San Francisco law firms for 2006, Manatt Phelps came in secondary markets like Dallas or Denver,” said firm Steefel Levitt & Weiss LLP in February. 112th, with revenue of $212 million. That was Paul Irving, a firm co-chairman. (Manatt Phelps has an Albany office, but that came as Manatt Phelps had tried San Francisco California on a variety of matters, and contin- part of a package deal when it picked up a before, but a 1979 effort was short-lived. In ued the firm’s tradition of civic involvement Manhattan firm.) 1999, it opened a Palo Alto office, its first sus- by serving as chair of the commission that The expansion has been driven both by tained addition to the L.A.-Washington axis. rewrote the City Charter. mergers with local firms and new hires. Since then, Manatt Phelps has established Kieffer and other senior partners at Manatt “Manatt has shown that it can slowly bring an outpost in Sacramento; ; the Phelps have said that a key part of its success along a new office by selecting individual lat- Albany, N.Y., office; and Costa Mesa. has been an entrepreneurial culture present eral partners and that it can also integrate a Its San Francisco merger has an L.A. con- since the firm’s early days. large group of lawyers following a splashy nection: Because Steefel Levitt also runs a “We value entrepreneurs and reward merger,” said Jason Yuen, a Santa Monica- small Los Angeles office in downtown, the them,” said Lisa Specht, a partner who joined based legal recruiter with Alan Miles & combination could give the famously Westside the firm in 1976 after graduating from law Associates, who has placed partners at the law firm a new local outpost. The firm has school. “We don’t have any lock step systems, firm. said the plan is to close that site, but no final which means that people have both more free- Its L.A. office is a key growth area, too. In decision has been made. Presently, Manatt dom and responsibility.” recent months, Manatt Phelps has brought in Phelps has a total of eight official offices, not While in some ways the firm has remained several lateral partners, including IP attorney including Steefel Levitt’s downtown location. the same, it has evolved from its regional Stephen Lobbin from Foley & Lardner and roots. music attorney Gary Gilbert from Baker & Eight lawyers in 1973 “We obviously started as a regional firm Hostetler. When George Kieffer, head of the govern- and we essentially remained a regional firm ment and regulatory policy practice, joined the for many years but that description doesn’t History, politics firm in 1973 it had just eight lawyers. quite apply anymore,” Kieffer said. The firm was founded in L.A. in 1964, and “At that moment in time the rumor was it At one time the firm was known for its opened an office in Washington in 1974 as was a very hot small firm. Chuck Manatt had business with locally based companies, and part of an expansion that reflected the firm’s been elected state chair of the Democratic while the firm’s client roster still has many political and government ties. Co-founder Party. The firm represented the Lakers and the Los Angeles businesses, it now includes a Charles Manatt has been deeply involved in owner of the team back then, Jack Kent large number of national corporations includ- Democratic politics over the course of his pro- Cooke,” Kieffer said. “Manatt convinced me ing AT&T, Siemens Transportation and Credit fessional career and served as chairman of the that there was great opportunity here and he Suisse First Boston. Democratic National Committee. was right.” “Thirty years ago our biggest client was Manatt is still affiliated with the firm and is Over the course of his career at the firm, probably a bank in Bakersfield,” said Gordon based in its Washington office. The other two Kieffer has represented clients including Bava, a co-chairman of the firm. “And while name partners, Thomas Phelps and L. Lee Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. and the we still do work for the small banks, we also Phillips, also remain with the firm. Metropolitan Water District of Southern represent Bear Stearns and Citigroup.”

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