Arnold & Porter Launches Seattle Office, Adding K&L Gates Team

Arnold & Porter began practicing law in Seattle on Friday, recruiting a local partner team that includes an office leader from rival K&L Gates.

The firm’s Seattle launch marks Arnold & Porter’s first major expansion under Michael Daneker and Ellen Kaye Fleishhacker, who were took over as firmwide co-chairs beginning in January.

“We have existing clients in the Seattle metropolitan region but this group has its own client relationships that will enhance and further our depth in that area,” Daneker told Bloomberg Law in an interview.

The Washington DC-founded law firm has temporary office space in Seattle, where it added three K&L Gates partners. The firm plans to move into a permanent location with 22,000 square feet that can accommodate as many as 60 attorney in the coming years, its leaders said.

Arnold & Porter is a Beltway powerhouse known for representing clients on both sides of the political aisle. It was one of the few Big Law firms that joined an amicus brief backing Perkins Coie, which sued President Donald Trump over an executive order targeting the firm. It has also been the on-again, off-again professional home to former Biden-era Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Pallavi Mehta Wahi

Photo: Arnold & Porter

Pallavi Mehta Wahi and three fellow K&L Gates partners began at Arnold & Porter on Friday, she told Bloomberg Law. Wahi, who oversaw the Seattle office of K&L Gates until her departure, will serve as her new firm’s local office and lead strategic growth for its Western expansion. She aims “to make Seattle the cornerstone” of the firm’s Northwest presence.

Wahi is joined in Seattle by tech corporate partner Annette Becker, who previously co-lead the corporate practice at K&L Gates, and employment class action partner Patrick Madden. The K&L Gates haul also includes New Jersey-based labor and employment partner Rosemary Alito, sister to Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who previously served as a leader of the firm’s labor, employment, and workplace safety practice.

“We are from different practice areas but we service clients together,” Wahi said. “The business of law is about the client and less about the practice. When you bring together a team for the client, you better service the client.”

Arnold & Porter’s gross revenue ticked up 4.7% to nearly $1.2 billion last year, according to data published by The American Lawyer. The firm’s profits per equity partner stayed mostly flat at just over $1.6 million.

Julie Anne Halter, K&L Gates’ recently named Seattle office managing partner, touted the firm’s local strength in a statement. K&L Gates lists more than 140 lawyers in Seattle on its website.

“Our Seattle office has been—and will continue to be—an industry trailblazer in the region, providing dynamic, cutting-edge legal counsel for sophisticated clients,” Halter said. “We are proud of the exceptional work our teams are doing to support our clients and our communities across the Pacific Northwest and beyond.”

Wahi and her colleagues have represented iconic Seattle coffee company Starbucks and health system Providence Health & Services in litigation, court records show. Wahi, while declining to comment about any specific clients, said some of her clients’ files will stay at K&L Gates while others are likely to transfer over with her.

“Arnold & Porter is well-known for regulatory expertise,” she said. “We’re really looking for that as this landscape is evolving and changing, when you’re looking at an interconnected global economy.”