Ropes & Gray Expands Chicago Foothold

Law Firms

Posted Sep 26, 2008, 10:05 am CST
By Martha Neil

A Boston-based international law firm is expanding its foothold in Chicago, moving to new offices and hiring additional lawyers.

Ropes & Gray now has 12 attorneys in the Windy City, after bringing in three former Mayer Brown partners to open the office in February. And the 1,000-lawyer firm appears likely to expand further: Its new offices on the 46th floor of 111 S. Wacker Drive in Chicago contain 28,000 square feet, Crain's Chicago Business reports.

"The law firm signed a three-year sublease with Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, a law firm with six floors and excess space after an exodus of lawyers," Crain's writes. "Locke Lord was formed last year by the merger of Chicago’s Lord Bissell & Brook and Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp."

The move comes at a time when corporate executives and in-house legal counsel anticipate an "almost shocking" slowdown in legal work for leading Boston law firms, according to the National Law Journal.

Among Ropes & Gray's recent Chicago hires was securities lawyer Asheesh Goel, who formerly was a partner of Kirkland & Ellis.

Earlier coverage:

Boston Business Journal: "Ropes & Gray launches alternative work program"

ABAJournal.com: "Proskauer to Open Office in Chicago With Three Mayer Brown Partners"

ABAJournal.com: "DLA Piper Raids Locke Lord Bissell; 8 Restructuring Lawyers Jump Ship"

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