Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Friday, July 13, 2007

 

Page 3

 

Business Litigator Christopher Reeder Moves to Sheppard Mullin

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Business litigator Christopher S. Reeder has joined Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton’s Los Angeles office as a partner in its business trial practice group.

Previously a partner in the local office of Lord, Bissell & Brook, Reeder told the MetNews he just “couldn’t pass up” the opportunity to move to a firm of greater size and regional presence.

“I was particularly impressed by the firm’s dominance in California,” he said of Sheppard Mullin, which started 80 years ago in Los Angeles and now has over 150 attorneys—half of them litigators—in its downtown office.

“I’m very happy to be at an L.A.-based home office of what I consider to be one the most prestigious firms, if not the most prestigious firm, in the city,” Reeder added.

Joining  Sheppard Mullin on Reeder’s heels are former Lord Bissell associates Beverly Lu, Gabriel Green and Gene Wu, who worked closely with Reeder while the four were part of Lord Bissell’s litigation practice group.

Dubbing Lu, Green and Wu his “A-Team,” Reeder remarked that they “shined as the best” among the associates at Lord Bissell.

“After I left, I wanted to give them the opportunity to come as well because we work very well together as a team, and I’m glad we can continue doing that,” he said.

The group’s move was effective Tuesday.

In a statement, Robert Beall, chair of Sheppard Mullin’s business trial practice

group, said the newly transplanted team will add depth to the firm’s practice in areas such as franchise law and class actions. Firm Chair Guy Halgren noted the diverse trial experience that Reeder brings to the litigation group.

Reeder, 37, has a complex commercial litigation practice covering a wide array of areas including real estate, construction, franchise, aviation, entertainment and class action. His clients include major real estate developers, two very large home improvement contractors, the world’s premier window coverings and shutter company, aviation companies, and a dental management company that owns several dental office in Southern California area, he said.

“My practice has been so broad-based, and being that Sheppard Mullin is such a large full-service firm with a great variety of clients, it will help assist me in serving a client base that’s very diverse,” he commented.

Reeder was admitted to the State Bar in 1997 after earning a law degree from the University of Dayton in his native state of Ohio.

From 1997 to 1999, he worked for Kern and Wooley, a Westwood firm specializing in aviation litigation. In 1999, he moved to Kaye Scholer in Century City, where he began building a complex commercial litigation practice.

He left Kaye Scholer in early 2006 to join Lord Bissell & Brook as a partner.

Before law school, Reeder served as an Operations Specialist Second Class in the U.S. Navy, while earning a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology.

“I always wanted to be either a trial lawyer or a football player,” he said. “I wasn’t quite good enough to be a pro football player so I became a trial lawyer, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

In addition to his law career, Reeder currently coaches youth football.

Lu, 33, said she expects her move to Sheppard Mullin will “open a lot of doors” for her and her three colleagues.

“I think we all hope to grow our business as well as our clients,” she commented.

Like Reeder, Lu has a broad complex commercial litigation practice, with an emphasis in real estate litigation.

Prior to joining Lord Bissell in 2003, she was an associate in the downtown litigation firm of Hawkins Schnabel Lindahl & Beck, since renamed Lindahl Beck, where she began her career after her November 2000 admission to the State Bar.

Lu earned both her law degree and her undergraduate degree in political science and Asian American studies from UCLA.

Green’s practice focuses primarily on franchising litigation and intellectual property litigation.

A graduate of University of San Diego Law School, he was admitted to the State Bar in 2002 and began his career as an intellectual property litigator at Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley. In 2005, he moved to Lord Bissell where he was a member of both the intellectual property and commercial litigation groups.

Green told the MetNews his new firm provides a broader platform for servicing his franchisor clients, who have nationally and internationally renowned brands.

“I think that the fact that Sheppard Mullin is a premier California and nationally-renowned firm is going to assist our clients, especially in the California arena,”  he said.

The associate, originally from the East Coast, added:

“I have an East Coast-based history, so for me the presence on the East Coast was very important in considering a firm given the fact that I have a number of contacts and clients back there whom we service and assist.”

Green, 30, earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University in 1999.

Wu, 31, was admitted to the State Bar in 2003 after graduating with a biochemistry degree from SUNY at Buffalo and earned his law degree from UC Berkeley.

Admitted to practice before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Wu said he looks forward to broadening his patent practice at Sheppard Mullin.

The firm’s vast and diverse practice provides him with a “great opportunity” to service his clients.

“There is basically an expert for every conceivable question,” he pointed out.

Before attending law school, Wu taught math & science in Western Samoa as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Wu began his career at Milbank Tweed’s downtown office handling reinsurance litigation. He moved to Lord Bissell in 2006 to work on matters in addition to reinsurance.

 

Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company