McDermott Will & Emery has hired Charles “Chuck” Moll III, head of the nationwide state and local tax practice at Winston & Strawn, along with his fellow colleagues Troy Van Dongen and Marcy Jo Mandel, to build out its tax group in California.

The trio have joined McDermott's state and local tax practice, where Moll and Van Dongen will serve as partners in San Francisco, while Mandel comes aboard as of counsel in Los Angeles.

“It is a very large, well-known [and] renowned practice. I think the catalyst was McDermott opened a San Francisco office,” said Moll about his decision to join the Am Law 100 firm, whose roots are in Chicago.

McDermott announced its attention to set up shop in San Francisco earlier this year after bringing aboard a roughly 50-lawyer group from DLA Piper. While most of those lawyers are now based in existing space at Three Embarcadero Center in the city's financial district, McDermott said that it has plans to move into a new office later this year. As of now, the firm has about 16 lawyers residing in San Francisco.

“California is the sixth-largest economy in the world—only five countries have an economy larger than California,” said Moll, adding that he has seen an increased amount of tax work emanating from the Golden State. “California has a lot of development between all the various state taxes and local taxes. California imposes a lot of taxes, there is a lot going on [here] on the tax front.”

Moll has spent the past dozen years at Winston & Strawn, having joined the firm in 2006 from Morrison & Foerster, where he was a partner and practiced as a tax lawyer for more than 25 years. An expert in resolving tax controversies, Moll is also known for representing clients before all levels of state and local tax authorities and has litigation experience across California courts, the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

“We are thrilled to welcome someone of Chuck's stature with such a well-deserved reputation in California and a proven track record of success across the country,” said a statement from Jane Wells May, a Chicago-based member of the management and executive committees at McDermott and head of the firm's state and local tax practice. “The arrival of Chuck and his team bolster our California [state and local tax] presence and further strengthen the high-quality state and local tax capabilities clients expect from McDermott.”

With the addition of the trio from Winston & Strawn through a move brokered by San Francisco-based legal recruiter Avis Caravello, McDermott now has about 25 lawyers in its firmwide state and local tax group. Ira Coleman, chairman of McDermott, said in a statement that his firm is “excited for the energy and experience” its new group of lateral hires will bring to its West Coast offices, particularly its growing team in San Francisco.

Moll and Van Dongen have been working together for nearly two decades, having previously practiced together at Morrison & Foerster. Van Dongen's practice focuses on the resolution of state and local tax controversies through both litigation and negotiation. He also has extensive experience in property taxation and advises clients on various other state and local tax matters, including franchise, income, sales and use tax.

As a tax litigator, Mandel focuses her practice on resolving state and local tax controversies. She was formerly California's deputy state controller for taxation, where she served as a senior tax adviser to three consecutive state controllers on policy issues, including a streamlined sales tax. In early 2015, Mandel joined Winston & Strawn's Los Angeles office as of counsel.

Despite the new tax practice additions, McDermott has recently watched a sizable group of lawyers leave its office in Irvine to join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, which announced last week its recruitment of a nine-partner team from McDermott. That move came on the heels of a late July raid that saw seven intellectual property partners leave McDermott for Morgan Lewis, bringing the total haul by the latter to roughly 40 lawyers and staff.

Winston & Strawn did not immediately return a request for comment about the departure of Moll and his team. The firm, which opened a Dallas office in 2017, has grown its operations in the Lone Star State by more than 120.5 percent within the last year, according to a recent report by sibling publication Texas Lawyer.