Duane Morris is bringing on 18 lawyers to its labor and employment practice via a merger with bicoastal employment boutique Curley, Hurtgen & Johnsrud, the firms announced Tuesday morning. 

As of October 2022, the Curley Hurtgen attorneys will operate under the Duane Morris name, the announcement stated. The firm—which currently has offices in Menlo Park, California; New York; and Philadelphia—will ultimately operate out of Duane Morris’ existing offices in New York, Philadelphia and Palo Alto, California. 

Conversations about merging the firms began in April this year, a spokesperson for Duane Morris said. Mike Curley, founder and managing partner of Curley Hurtgen, had been thinking about the long-term succession of his firm, he said in an interview Tuesday. The Philadelphia-native founded the firm in 2009 after splitting off from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

From a short-list of potential merger partners, Curley said he landed on Duane Morris because the firm’s rates were more in line with his own. He said to merge with many of the firms under consideration, who Curley said he “likes and values,” would have meant doubling and tripling rates of Curley Hurtgen lawyers.

“If there are adjustments that need to be made, they’re not such that they would jeopardize the client relationships,” Curley said.

Curley said boutique firms like his often find themselves to be “victims of [their] own success,” as clients have approached them with big-ticket representations only for Curley Hurtgen to have to bring in large national firms for added support. In his firm’s case, Curley said the firm has brought in O’Melveny & Myers, where Curley led the labor and employment group before joining Morgan Lewis.

By merging with Duane Morris, Curley said he can keep assignments in-house.

Significant client overlap exists between the two firms, Curley said. He referenced a Japan-based employer-client, whose subsidiary is a client of Duane Morris.

He declined to specify any clients in particular, but said his firm represents many of Silicon Valley’s largest employers and some of the largest employers in the pharmaceutical space. Public records indicate the firm has represented Johnson & Johnson and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in litigation.

In a statement, Eve Klein, chair of Duane Morris’ employment, labor, benefits and immigration practice group, said the move will enhance the firm’s complex litigation capabilities and reinforce its geographic presence in “strategically important regions.” 

“As the marketplace continues to create new challenges for employers, Duane Morris will continue to be a sought-after firm for clients seeking innovative legal perspective,” Klein said in a prepared statement. 

Going from 18 attorneys to more than 800, leaders at the employment boutique said their clients will benefit from joining Duane Morris’ international platform. 

“Along with its industry-specific, go-to-market approach, we are pleased to have new opportunities to expand our capabilities into existing Duane Morris practice areas and clients,” said Brian Johnsrud, who leads the firm’s West Coast practice.

For Duane Morris, this is the first combination since its 2020 merger with Satterlee Stephens in New York, which bolstered the firm’s office there by more than 60%. 

Employment law has been a targeted area of recruitment this year for Duane Morris, which added a group of New Jersey-based employment lawyers from McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli in February.

Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.