For the second time in a month, Bingham McCutchen has lost a high-profile group of partners to a rival firm. On Tuesday, RAYMOND MARSHALL, a 36-year Bingham veteran and member of the firm’s executive committee, officially joined Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton along with two other San Francisco–based Bingham litigation partners. Also moving to Sheppard Mullin are KRYSTAL BOWEN, a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Central and Northern Districts of California who coheaded Bingham’s white-collar practice, and DAVID CANNON.
Marshall, 60, a past president of both the State Bar of California and the Bar Association of San Francisco, says he and the lawyers making the move with him were attracted to Los Angeles–based Sheppard Mullin’s comparatively more substantial presence in the state, particularly in San Francisco, where the firm has 90 lawyers. (With the Tuesday departures, Bingham’s office in the city now has 74.) “A lot of firms nationally are retrenching in San Francisco,” Marshall says. “Sheppard is growing through lateral hires. It really has become a destination firm. They’re growing, but they’re growing smart.” (Sheppard Mullin’s revenue rose in 2013 but its profits fell, in part because of a rise in head count, according to The American Lawyer’s reporting.)
The work Marshall and Bowen do focuses primarily on matters related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and environmental crime allegations, as well as financial institutions enforcement matters. Bowen, for example, is currently representing two energy traders at Barclays PLC in federal district court in Sacramento. The duo, along with the bank, are fighting a $453 million enforcement penalty levied by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission over alleged market manipulation.
The three partners joining Sheppard Mullin share some clients with their new firm—including Chevron Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.—according to Marshall, who calls the overlap “an added attraction.”
