BUSINESS NEWS FROM THE FOUR-COUNTY REGION
PORTLAND, OREGON
DECEMBER 3, 2010
COVER
Top law firms join forces
Seventeen Roberts Kaplan attorneys will join the Portland office of Lane Powell PC
by Andy Giegerich
BUSINESS JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Lane Powell PC and Roberts Kaplan LLP
are poised to solidify their stranglehold on
Portland’s banking clients.
Seattle-based Lane Powell and Portland’s
Roberts Kaplan told staffers on Wednesday that 17 Roberts Kaplan attorneys will
join Lane Powell’s Portland office Jan. 1.
The group includes Ken Roberts and Drew
Ognall, two of the city’s best-known financial services attorneys.
The collaboration — corporations and
limited liability partnerships can’t technically “merge” — means that Lane Powell
will become Portland’s sixth-largest firm,
with 67 attorneys. The firm had previously
ranked 11th on the Business Journal’s largest law firms list.
The deal marks one of the city’s largest
law collaborations since 1979, when Davies,
Biggs, Strayer, Stoel and Boley merged with
Rives, Bonyhadi and Smith. That created
Stoel Rives LLP, which employed a total of
75 attorneys. Stoel today employs 168 local
lawyers.
Overall, Lane Powell will employ nearly
200 attorneys, mostly in Seattle and Portland.
Roberts Kaplan itself had spun out from
Seattle firm Foster Pepper in 2009. Joel Kaplan, who started the firm with Roberts in
June 2009, won’t make the move to Lane
Powell. He and real estate attorney Elia
Popovich plan to start their own practice.
The strategy expands Lane Powell’s reach
into several areas, including securities,
mergers and acquisitions and specialized
real estate. Lane Powell officials anticipate
the move will help augment the firm’s bustling litigation services, which have helped
it log “a banner year,” said President Lewis
Horowitz.
While many firms continue
to lose revenue, Lane Powell’s billings will increase by
at least 5 percent in 2010. The
firm doesn’t reveal revenue.
Roberts Kaplan has handled Umpqua Bank’s ramHorowitz
pant growth via mergers and
myriad branch openings. In
the past year, Umpqua has taken over two
failed Washington community banks: Tacoma-based Rainier Pacific Bank and Seattlebased Evergreen Bank, as well as Nevada
Security Bank in Reno.
Roberts Kaplan also represents Medfordbased Lithia Motors Inc., a publicly traded
company with dealerships throughout the
West Coast and Midwest.
Lane Powell’s clients include JPMorgan
Chase, Wells Fargo, Key Bancorp and Bank
of America.
“They have a very impressive reputation
and client following and a very nice position in a couple of markets, including community banking,” Horowitz said. “We tend
to have a lot of bigger banks, but the client
needs are very similar.”
Roberts believes his attorneys can add to
Lane Powell’s expertise in such matters as
tax law, the federal Employee Retirement
Income Security Act and creditors’ rights
issues.
The two firms began talking about the arrangement late last summer. Roberts began
looking around to provide more heft to his
practice.
“We do have some high-profile clients
with sophisticated needs,” Roberts said.
“Plus, (Lane Powell has) resources here and
in Seattle.”
Lane Powell, which already occupies
three floors in downtown Portland’s ODS
Tower, will take over Roberts Kaplan’s
space in the same building.
We tend to have a lot of bigger banks,
but the client needs are similar.’
lewis horowitz
lane powell President
Attorneys say while the economic downturn has brought layoffs, few mergers have
occurred.
Ken Young, a principal with Charlotte,
N.C.-based Young Mayden, said it’s more
likely that lawyers from larger international
firms will jump to regional firms in order to
gain more autonomy. Doing so allows them
to set lower rates and attract more clients.
“It sounds like (Lane Powell wants) to
cement their reputation as a good banking
firm,” said Young, an American Bar Association House of Delegates member. “It could
help Lane Powell get a stronger foothold
in Portland because Roberts Kaplan seems
well-established there.”
However, the economy could soon drive
other firm mergers.
“It makes sense to look at ways firms
compliment each other in terms of clients
and reducing overhead,” said Phylis Myles,
director of career services for Salem-based
Willamette University’s law school. “They
can boost practices they don’t have. So I do
expect to see more of these.”
Horowitz said it’s difficult to find such arrangements in Portland because many firms
represent clients who compete with each
other. In the banking legal realm, firms such
as Lane Powell and Roberts Kaplan represent lenders, while other business-oriented
firms represent borrowers.
Either Roberts or Ognall will join Lane
Powell’s board of directors. Some Roberts
Kaplan partners will become “shareholders,” in the Lane Powell vernacular, based
on their experience.
Reprinted for web use with permission from the Portland Business Journal. ©2010, all rights reserved. Reprinted by Scoop ReprintSource 1-800-767-3263.