U.S. Capitol building. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Cozen O'Connor has added four attorneys to its construction law practice in two weeks, as it continues to make growth in Washington, D.C., a priority for the firm.

Christopher Sweeney and Alexandra Busch arrived at the firm this week from construction boutique Peckar & Abramson, rejoining colleagues Stephen Seeger and Jesse Keene, who both joined Cozen O'Connor from the boutique last month. Seeger joined as a shareholder, Keene and Sweeney joined as members, and Busch is an associate.

All four attorneys will be based in the firm's D.C. office, which in the past decade has grown from just seven attorneys to a 79-attorney, full-service office, said Michael Heller, Cozen O'Connor's CEO.

"These hires are a continuation of our overall strategy: to build out our Washington office on a full-service basis," he said in an interview, adding that the firm has a history of hiring groups of lawyers and acquiring boutiques to grow.

While Cozen O'Connor is open to growth in its offices across the country, Heller said the firm was specifically looking to increase its ranks in Washington, a "sophisticated legal market" where business and politics intersect. Growth in D.C., as well as in New York, will elevate the Cozen O'Connor brand for potential clients and hires alike, Heller said.

"As we grow all around the country, many prospective laterals want to know the depth and breadth of our practices in Washington and New York," he said. "We knew a great leverage point for us would be having big, full-service firms in New York and Washington."

While Heller said Cozen O'Connor's D.C. office is already a full-service operation, he said he's still focused on expanding its corporate practice, adding more labor and employment lawyers and beefing up its regulatory offerings. Some of these growth efforts have already paid off: Heller said that growing the office's real estate practice from two attorneys to 11 in just three years was a success—one he was excited to capitalize on with the real estate-adjacent hires to the construction practice in the last few weeks.

"Washington has a lucrative real estate market, which is why we've been able to expand our real estate practice and expand our construction litigation practice," he said.

The most recent hires expand on the Philadelphia-based firm's history of growth in the D.C. market. Cozen O'Connor merged with Sher & Blackwell in 2010 and hired away a handful of IP attorneys from Duane Morris in 2012.

More recently, the firm beefed up its Washington IP practice last October and has grown its lobbying arm throughout the country, building on the lobby group's strengths in the capital.

"We have a real, defined strategy looking at each individual practice and trying to expand [in each one]," Heller said. "There have been some really game-changing acquisitions for us in Washington. They've really be a catalyst for our significant growth."