The law firm of Foley & Lardner has decided to move its officer from the central business district of San Diego to Del Mar, according to The Am Law Daily.
The co-chair of the firm’s life sciences and industry team and managing partner of the San Diego office, Richard Kaufman, said that the firm will close its central San Diego office.
“Following a careful analysis of the market and the use of our offices in downtown San Diego and Del Mar, we made the decision to consolidate into a single location at our current office space at 3579 Valley Centre Drive in Del Mar in early December 2013,” Kaufman said. Kaufman came to the firm in 2008 from the former Heller Ehrman. “The office consolidation has streamlined our local operations and brought even greater value to clients, while allowing our attorneys to collaborate in one space and continue to provide the same exceptional services to clients located in San Diego and across the globe.”
Foley is not the first firm to close its doors in San Diego of late. In recent years, Baker & McKenzie and Goodwin Procter left the city. Due to the firm moving out of San Diego, some partners have decided to switch law firms.
Michael McCloskey, a former litigation and dispute resolution partner left the firm to become of counsel at the San Diego office of Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker.
An IP and sciences partner from Foley, Debra Nye, also left the firm. Nye has joined cancer therapy startup Conkwest in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California. Bankruptcy and finance partners Christopher Celentino and Mikel Bistrow left the firm to join Ballard Spahr.
Foley said that it is consolidating its regional offices and will keep a presence in the region using its new office in Del Mar.
“With more than 40 lawyers, patent agents and paraprofessionals, we are deeply committed to the San Diego market and the region’s dynamic life sciences and technology communities,” Kaufman said in his statement. “We still maintain office space in downtown San Diego to accommodate our litigators during ongoing trials.”