Wake Up Call: Law Firms Flock to Build, Expand in San Diego

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• San Diego’s legal market has seen a boom since 2020, with more than 20 law firms opening new offices or expanding locally, often targeting the region’s life sciences sector. High-profile mergers, including Fennemore with Sullivan Hill and Quarles & Brady with Paul, Plevin, have reshaped the region, while firms such as Perkins Coie are strengthening their presence in the city with partner additions. (San Diego Business Journal)
• San Francisco’s Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic and other nonprofits provide legal aid to domestic violence survivors, but chronic underfunding has left them overwhelmed. Though voters approved a measure in 2022 to guarantee free civil representation for victims, the city has yet to fund it—and recent budget proposals even threatened to cut CROC’s support entirely. (San Francisco Standard)
• Sullivan & Cromwell sold the microgrid system for its New York headquarters to Unison Energy. Unison will own and operate the microgrid on behalf of the building, supplying the property with 100% of its cooling demand and the majority of its heating and electrical demand through a long-term Energy Services Agreement. (Unison Energy)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Woodie Dixon Jr. joined the Golden State Warriors as chief legal officer. He joins from Chegg.
• Davina Pujari and Chris Rheinheimer joined Mayer Brown as partners in its mass torts practice. They join from WilmerHale.
• Lee Parnes joined Davis Polk as a mergers and acquisitions partner. He joins from Sullivan & Cromwell.
• Don Vieira joined Skadden as a partner and head of its tech policy practice in Washington. He joins from Sequoia Capital.
• Mai Lin joined Womble Bond Dickinson as a partner in its trademark, copyright, privacy, and IP transactions practice in Los Angeles.
• Rushmi Bhaskaran joined Ballard Spahr as a partner in its litigation department and white collar defense and investigations group in New York.
• Amanda Mulroony joined Frost Brown Todd as a partner in its business and commercial litigation practice group in Indianapolis. She joins from Hoover Hull Turner.
• Tom Oslovar joined Baker McKenzie as a partner in its transactional practice group in Palo Alto, Calif.