SAN FRANCISCO — Public finance law firm Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP has opened a new office in Portland, Ore., after K&L Gates’ public finance group in the city jumped over to the firm.
As the firm’s eighth office, the Portland practice will be its first in the Pacific Northwest and joins West Coast offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
K&L Gates was the dominant bond counsel firm in Oregon, with a 70% market share by volume so far this year and a 59.8% share in 2010, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Former K&L Gates lawyers Harvey Rogers, Ann Sherman, Carol McCoog and Jennifer Cordova have joined Hawkins as partners in Portland, while Gülgün Ugur Mersereau joined as an associate.
The new lawyers start with Hawkins Delafield Monday.
This is not K&L Gates’ first loss this year in the Northwest. In May, six former partners at K&L in Seattle left the firm to form a new public finance law firm, Pacifica Law Group LLP.
For the first three quarters of 2011, Hawkins Delafield was ranked third among bond counsel nationally after participating in 169 deals worth $9.1 billion.
For all of 2010, the firm ranked second nationally, credited with $21.8 billion in volume over 340 transactions.
In 2010, Hawkins ranked second nationally among underwriters counsel, credited with $19.2 billion in volume on 143 transactions.
