On Monday, law firm Baker & Hostetler announced that it had recruited a team of corporate attorneys from three competing firms as part of its expansion in California. The team includes partner Will Chuchawat, previously co-heading the private equity and mergers and acquisitions group at Proskauer Rose, and JR Lanis, vice chair of Polsinelli's securities and corporate finance practice. Other team members include partners Mark Ramzy from Kirkland & Ellis, Bryan Wasser from Polsinelli, and associates Seung Kim and Josh Demple from Proskauer. These lawyers will be based in BakerHostetler's Los Angeles office, with Ramzy dividing his time between Houston and Los Angeles. The addition of the unnamed partner and counsel will bring the firm's West Coast corporate group to a total of 30 lawyers.
BakerHostetler, founded in Cleveland, Ohio, and currently employs around 1,000 lawyers, has added almost 115 lawyers on the West Coast since 2019. The firm established an office in San Francisco in 2020 and hired Eric Sagerman as its new Los Angeles managing partner the year before to expand its presence there. Additionally, the firm has outposts in Costa Mesa, California, and Seattle. According to Chuchawat, who will co-lead the firm's M&A team, the growth of BakerHostetler's West Coast operations was a significant factor in his decision to join the firm. Notably, the firm's West Coast hires have included 19 intellectual property lawyers, professionals from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and the former vice president for privacy and legal compliance at Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
According to the firm, Chuchawat's clients include private equity and venture capital funds and companies in various industries such as technology, health care, and consumer products. He had previously spent over 16 years at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, where he headed the M&A group before joining Proskauer in 2021.
Lanis, who joined Polsinelli in 2019, is experienced in providing advice on public company securities offerings and reporting, as well as handling M&A and other transactional matters, the firm added.
While a spokesperson for Kirkland expressed their good wishes for Ramzy, a Polsinelli spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. As of the time of writing, there has yet to be a response from a Proskauer spokesperson regarding this development.
