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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a prominent law firm based in New York City, announced that it will close its San Francisco office. The office will be merged with Skadden’s Palo Alto office. The firm first entered the Silicon Valley and San Francisco during the dot.com bubble days. Lawyers who have been watching Skadden’s progress through the years are saying that the consolidation of Skadden’s Palo Alto and San Francisco offices is not that surprising anymore since talks about it have been circulating the industry for years.
San Francisco legal recruiter, Gary Davis, said that he was not surprised by Skadden’s announcement because this decision was strategic and beneficial to the overall welfare of the firm, given that the San Francisco office is relatively small and the Palo Alto office has a promising market. He also interpreted the move to mean that Skadden has a new strategy wherein the firm will just concentrate in the growth of one office. “It would be much more surprising to hear that an indigenous firm like Morrison & Foerster announced it was closing here or in Silicon Valley. Out-of-state firms usually need a compelling reason to keep two offices open in a small geographic location, like a client or partner request.”
The new office will be led by Kenton King, the Palo Alto corporate partner. It s website also named six other partners, three counsel and 17 associates, all of whom are litigators.
