Benesch opens Chicago office, plans additional growth there and elsewhere
Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff has opened a Chicago office with attorneys from Ulmer & Berne.
Headed by litigation partners Andrew Jarzyna and David Pope, the group followed Joseph Castrodale, the former business litigation practice chair at Ulmer & Berne, who moved last month to Benesch, where he now serves as vice chairman of the firm and chair of its litigation practice group Crain’s Cleveland Business (sub. req.) reports.
“We felt like this was a wonderful entry point into Chicago,” managing partner Gregg Eisenberg told Crain’s. “We always had our eyes on that market. We are deeply connected there in private markets and private equity.”
Benesch, which now has eight offices in the U.S. and one in Shanghai, started the year with 150 lawyers but expects to have 200 attorneys on its roster within months, Eisenberg said.
The firm is looking for “strategic combinations” with comparable legal shops in the Midwest, he said. After “a banner year” financially in 2014, “we’re expecting significant growth … and feel optimistic this year will be even better.”
