Denver law firm Messner Reeves scoops up high-profile Phoenix attorneys - Phoenix Business Journal - Phoenix Business Journal
Denver-based law firm Messner Reeves LLP has made a further push into the Arizona market by scooping up a high-profile employment law practice group from a Phoenix firm.
Julie Pace, David Selden and Heidi Nunn-Gilman lead the group of five attorneys and six other support staff, formerly with Gammage & Burnham PLC, who joined Messner Reeves effective Feb. 1. Pace, Selden and Nunn-Gilman have all been named partners of the Colorado firm.
The move comes less than two years after Messner Reeves initially set up its Phoenix office when it established its own intellectual property practice group led by Greg Sitrick, who joined the firm in August 2020 as a partner after working for a decade in the Phoenix office of Quarles & Brady LLP. The Denver firm has since added three other attorneys to its Valley IP practice.
Caleb Meyer, CEO of Messner Reeves, told the Business Journal that the deal to bring in the attorneys from Gammage & Burnham was done relatively quickly after he spoke to Pace in late 2021. He said Pace and her group will focus on growing the firm's litigation work.
"Julie and her group were looking for a better fit for their practice and certainly saw the culture that we've built [in Phoenix]. Timing is everything in the business world, and we're always on the lookout for great talent and a great fit with people and individuals. The confluence of all those things came together for us. Not only does this add diversity to our practice groups and solidify the office in Phoenix, but it also helps us develop a stronger outpost in the Southwest."
Meyer said the fact that Pace, Selden and Nunn-Gilman are well-entrenched and respected in the Valley community was also an important factor in sealing the deal. Pace, for example, is also the vice mayor of the town of Paradise Valley, having served on the town council for several years, while Selden has helped to draft many of the employment laws on the books in Arizona, including the 1996 Employment Protection Act.
'Entrepreneurial culture'
For her part, Pace said Messner Reeves' "entrepreneurial" culture was an important part of the equation, as was the fact that the services needed by her group's clients are rapidly evolving, so that the attorneys are playing more of a role as general counsel for the businesses, rather than merely transactional work.
"I have over 200 clients dealing in OSHA, construction and health care work. With so many changes in the market [in the past two years] clients are looking at exit strategies, succession planning and private equity deals so we need a multistate approach," Pace said. "This firm gives us the bench strength to provide those services for clients. This is a nice match. We didn't find a lot of firms being as energized about attorneys being in a general counsel role."
Meyer said the firm has leased a larger office to accommodate the new team of attorneys and support staff so that its two Phoenix-based practice groups could share the space. The firm's new office is at 7250 N. 16th St.
Already hiring
In fact, Pace said the firm is already about to grow again, as she is in the midst of interviews for two other attorney positions, while Meyer acknowledged the changing environment for hiring with more competition even when bringing in young lawyers.
With the addition of Pace's group, Messner Reeves now has nine attorneys and a total headcount of 17 in its Phoenix office.
Across its entire footprint, the Colorado firm has 12 offices stretching from California to New York. Firmwide, it has 268 employees, including 134 attorneys.
The expansion by Messner Reeves comes on the heels of other key moves in the Valley law sector earlier this year.
Detroit-based Clark Hill, which already had an office in Scottsdale, combined with a Phoenix business law firm, while Phoenix attorney Scott Jenkins left Quarles & Brady along with two other lawyers to open the first Arizona office for Minnesota-based Dorsey & Whitney LLP. Separately, Phoenix-based Jennings Haug Cunningham LLP has merged with Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Keleher & McLeod to create a new combined entity.
source: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2022/02/17/denver-law-firm-phoenix-expansion.html
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