Baker Donelson Deepens North Carolina Reach With Akerman Group

Baker Donelson recruited 14 attorneys from Akerman LLP and is opening a new office in North Carolina, the firm announced Monday.

Paul Foley, who previously led Akerman’s investment management group, will helm Baker Donelson’s office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a burgeoning center for research and biotech work. Nearly a dozen of the recruits will power the new office. The remainder will feed into Baker’s other offices, including in nearby Raleigh and Washington DC.

“A foothold in Winston-Salem positions us well in the Piedmont Triad, a thriving region with significant activity in health care, manufacturing, and emerging technology,” the firm’s chief executive officer Timothy Lupinacci said in a statement

This outpost is Baker Donelson’s third new office in the state in the past four years. Akerman announced in September that is was shuttering its Winston-Salem office as part of a “strategic consolidation” of the firm’s North Carolina operations.

“These departures are entirely consistent with the strategic consolidation we announced in September,” Akerman said Monday in a statement. “When we made the decision to exit Winston-Salem and concentrate our North Carolina platform in Charlotte, we anticipated that some attorneys would choose not to make that transition, and we wish them well.”

North Carolina has been subject to recent Big Law interest, with Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Proskauer Rose expanding their reach in the state earlier this year. Newcomers are capitalizing on the state’s healthcare and real estate markets in pockets outside the banking-rich Charlotte area. Baker’s other North Carolina offices are in Raleigh and Charlotte. The firm’s work in North Carolina is varied across litigation, financial services, corporate, mergers and acquisitions, labor and employment, and energy.

“Baker Donelson’s commitment to building a robust presence in the Carolinas and its exceptional record across markets made this an ideal opportunity for all of us,” Foley said in a statement. “We were also drawn to the firm’s transparent and genuinely collaborative culture, where leadership communicates openly and supports every market it enters.”

The group coming from Akerman includes shareholders Foley, John Faust, Drew Felts, Cole Beaubouef, and Jasmine Pitt.

Baker Donelson has more than 700 attorneys and has offices nationwide, including in Florida and Texas. The firm brought in more than $508 million in gross revenue last year, according to data from The American Lawyer. It notched $877,000 in profits per equity partners.