Perkins Coie, Davis Wright Expecting Big Revenues From Heller Hires
Perkins Coie wooed Heller Ehrman’s entire Madison, Wis. office, including 16 intellectual property litigators and 10 staffers, with its winning bid in an auction-style process the Am Law Daily reports. Three lawyers have delayed start dates because of conflicts.
In an unusual move, the former Heller partners entertained bids from seven law firms before accepting Perkins’ offer Thursday, the blog reported. Heller’s rapid dissolution forced the Madison partners to move quickly to secure a new home for themselves and their staff.
“Our first priority was to find a home for the entire office and not to split up …and the second job was to protect the jobs of our associates and staff,” David Harth, the office manager for the Heller office told the blog. “So what we did was hold an auction.”
The Madison group, which had $12 million to $14 million in revenue last year, according to Harth, put together binders of lawyer bios, financials, billings and clients and sent them to any firm that showed interest, the blog reported.
Perkins Coie sought the office as a “perfect addition” to its expanding IP practice, managing partner Robert Giles told the blog. “Being able to take over a whole operation lock, stock and barrel is just a whole lot simpler than trying to buy brand-new space,” Giles said. The firm may lose some clients through the acquisition, but it also expects to gain new Madison clients as prior conflicts are worked out, Giles told the reporter.
The Seattle firm Davis Wright Tremaine also expects to benefit from big clients and big cash brought by its newly acquired Heller attorneys.
The largest collective group of former Heller Ehrman lawyers, 13 partners (Am Law Daily reported 14 partners), two of counsel attorneys and four associates, could bring $16 million in billings to Davis, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.
The lawyers, accounting for nearly a quarter of the attorneys from Heller’s Seattle office, encompass “some of the pillars of the firm,” Gordon Kamisar, president of attorney placement firm Kamisar Legal Search told the newspaper. “These are people with deep ties and deep history, and very sophisticated attorneys.”
The former Heller attorneys include Don Percival, a partner whose large real estate practice includes serving as primary counsel for the $4 billion real estate portfolio of the Alaska Permanent Fund, and Bruce Bjerke, who has handled deals for Microsoft, Starbucks and Puget Sound Energy.
The newspaper cited Heller’s average revenue per lawyer last year as $805,000, citing American Lawyer.
