Quarles & Brady LLP is set to significantly boost its national footprint with its combination with California-based Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton LLP, a management-side labor and employment law firm.The expansion establishes Quarles’ brick-and-mortar presence in California and brings its attorney headcount to about 500 lawyers across 11 U.S. offices.
"When we think about strategic new locations and breaking into new markets we want to do it on a strong basis so being able to add 30 attorneys is a distinct entrance into the California market as opposed to just growing by one or two attorneys," Vynalek told the Business Journal."It's not just about planting flags. It's about having a really deep bench of lawyers who can cover all of California.
"You have companies from Silicon Valley opening secondary headquarters here; you've got executives moving to Arizona and just kind of a flow of opportunity back and forth between Arizona and California that has never been seen before," Vynalek said."We're really excited as a firm to be able to step into that and service our clients even more meaningfully in the California market.
Sandy McDonough — currently Paul, Plevin’s managing partner — will co-chair the combined firms' labor and employment practice group, along with Sean Scullen, who is currently national chair of the Quarles labor and employment practice group. The combined labor and employment practice group has more than 70 lawyers.