Richard Friedman, a founding partner and former longtime head of New York’s Sichenzia Ross Friedman Ference, has left the firm to join Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton.

Los Angeles-based Sheppard Mullin announced Thursday that Friedman had agreed to join the firm’s New York office along with Sichenzia Ross corporate partners Andrea Cataneo, Stephen Cohen and Jeffrey Fessler. In a phone conversation Thursday, Friedman said the move had been in the works for some time, but admitted that parting with his former colleagues has been hard.