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Is Working at Four or Five Law Firms a Detriment? In California, It's Not So Unusual

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 28, 2012, 12:52 pm CST

Job-hopping lawyers are more common in California, where frequent lateral moves don’t carry as much stigma.

The Recorder reports on the phenomenon and lists several serial laterals who have worked at four or five law firms. They include:

• William Coats, managing partner of Kaye Scholer’s Silicon Valley office, who has switched law firms four times. “You can focus your practice in different ways and be a different kind of person,” he tells the Recorder.

• IP litigator Paul Andre, now at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, who has worked at five firms, including Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison before its demise.

• Patent litigator James Elacqua, also a former Brobeck lawyer. He worked 20 years at one law firm before joining Brobeck. Since its demise, he has worked at three other law firms, including current firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. “I would still be at Brobeck if it hadn’t collapsed,” Elacqua told the Recorder.

• Corporate partner Lior Nuchi of Alston & Bird, who has worked at four firms in 10 years. He stayed at his first firm almost nine years.

• Corporate and securities partner Armando Castro, who has worked at five firms in 20 years, including Brobeck. He now works at DLA Piper. “In each instance I was recruited away,” Castro tells the Recorder.

• IP litigator Gerald Dodson, who has worked at six law firms since the 1990s. He tells the Recorder that client conflicts forced his moves.

Other reasons for moves are the lure of more money or the reality of law firm closings, the Recorder says. Lawyers who worked at Brobeck, Heller Ehrman and Howrey were forced to move. Out-of-town law firms looking for a California presence may be quick to hire, but they need to carefully check new hires, recruiters tell the publication. Some may be difficult or unable to build big books of business.