McDermott Will & Emery offices in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

McDermott Will & Emery has planted a flag in Delaware with a new office that will soon host four lawyers, and it is aiming to grow in the state.

The firm announced April 16 that it had opened an office in Wilmington, its 20th location, citing as opportunities the level of bankruptcy activity, IP litigation and corporate litigation in the region.

The new office started with the addition of partner Ashley Robert Altschuler from DLA Piper. On Wednesday, the firm announced that partner Benjamin Strauss would be joining the new Wilmington office as well, coming from Pepper Hamilton.

Altschuler said two associates are joining him from his former firm, including one who has already made the move and another who will do so next week.

“We very much saw Wilmington as a critical component of the offering we wanted to have available to our clients,” said Mike Poulos, McDermott's partner in charge of strategic growth and development. He said the firm surveyed clients on their needs in Delaware and found the same.

Strauss said he has been in Delaware for 25 years and never expected to leave Pepper Hamilton. But McDermott reached out to him and “moving onto a global platform was irresistible.”

Strauss focuses on corporate mergers and acquisitions and corporate matters specific to Delaware. He also deals with a lot of foreign lawyers, he said, in cross-border matters and Delaware corporate issues for overseas entities.

“They all know about Delaware. They don't quite know why,” Strauss said. “One of our missions here is to educate people what the world of Delaware is.”

Joining McDermott gives him a broader platform and international reach to do that, Strauss said.

Altschuler, a Delaware native, spent over 14 years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York, before joining DLA Piper in 2012 so he could move back to Delaware. At DLA Piper he worked with partner Tim Hoeffner, who Altschuler said had become a mentor to him. Hoeffner, in New York, made a move McDermott last year.

“I thought, this looks like a good opportunity, but they did not have a Delaware office at the time,” Altschuler said. So he began talks with McDermott about opening a location in Wilmington.

Altschuler works with New York-based investment banks, splitting his time between Delaware and New York. His clients include Morgan Stanley, UBS Investment Bank and Fortis Advisors, he said.

Poulos said the firm is planning to grow in Delaware and is already “in deep talks” with a few potential hires that will likely be announced soon.

“The McDermott type of client … they're all going to have a need to be serviced in Delaware at some time,” Altschuler said.

A spokesman for Pepper Hamilton said in a statement Wednesday that the firm wishes Strauss well. DLA Piper did not respond to a call for comment on Altschuler's departure.