Legal News

Barroway Topaz Opens New SF Office

By Brian Harris

By Zack Needles
Of the Legal Staff

Securities class action boutique Barroway Topaz Kessler Meltzer & Check, formally announced Sept.10 that it has opened a new office in San Francisco.

"We have a growing number of clients out there," said partner Darren J. Check, adding that having attorneys stationed in California makes traveling to meet West Coast clients easier.

The firm previously had a satellite office in nearby Walnut Creek, Calif., but Check said the move to San Francisco solidifies a "more formal" office.

Heading up the office is partner Ramzi Abadou, who joined the firm in June from San Diego-based Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins.

"Ramzi grew up in the Bay Area and was eager to go back," Check said.

Associates Erik D. Peterson, who came to the firm with Abadou, and Nichole Browning are also based out of the San Francisco office.

Check said the firm has a strong client base on the West Coast and that the recession has made plaintiffs firms busier all around.

"Certainly the current financial situation has led to a lot of financial opportunities in the plaintiffs bar," he said.

Check said the firm does not currently have plans to expand the San Francisco office.

"I think we?re going to see how it goes," he said. "I think we?re happy with the size now and hopefully there will be an opportunity to expand. We?re pretty well situated right now to run cases out of the office with the current setup."

The end of summer has seen a few other midsized firms expand westward as well.

In late August, Philadelphia-based transportation, litigation and business law firm Burns White & Hickton announced it had opened a new office in Cleveland.

And on Sept. 8, Blue Bell, Pa.-based Nelson Levine de Luca & Horst opened a new office in Denver with the addition of three Cozen O?Connor attorneys.

Full post as published by The Legal Intelligencer Blog on September 17, 2009 (boomark / email).