(l-r) George Hlavac, Steve Hoffman and Ed Easterly, founding partners of Hoffman Hlavac & Easterly. Courtesy photo.

Four lawyers from the Pennsylvania office of New Jersey-based Norris McLaughlin have left to form their own firm in the Lehigh Valley.

Hoffman Hlavac & Easterly, which opened its doors Monday in Allentown, was formed by former Norris McLaughlin litigation practice co-chairman and Pennsylvania administrative partner Steven Hoffman, along with George Hlavac, former labor and employment department co-chairman, and Edward Easterly, also of the employment practice. The new firm's lone associate, John Buckley, also was with Norris McLaughlin's labor and employment group.

For Norris McLaughlin, it's the second such group departure in a few months' time, as the firm's family practice chairwoman, Jeralyn Lawrence, spun off at the end of 2018.

The three Hoffman Hlavac partners have strong roots in the Lehigh Valley: They all came to Bridgewater-based Norris McLaughlin via the firm's 2009 merger with Tallman, Hudders & Sorrentino of Allentown, where they had begun practicing years earlier.

“We decided, after being part of a large firm … we wanted to have control over our direction,” Hoffman said in a phone interview.

The group “wanted to be more flexible” and sought an “opportunity to do things more creatively,” Hoffman said.

He and Norris McLaughlin chairman John Vanarthos acknowledged that the departing group had some disagreements with others in firm leadership.

To Vanarthos, at least, those disagreements were not far beyond what normally crops up at a firm with a large partnership, he said.

“People have different opinions about how things should be handled,” Vanarthos, who sits in Bridgewater, said in an interview.

According to Hoffman, clients stayed in the move. Along with the city of Allentown, which he represents, the group brought to their new firm other Lehigh Valley municipal clients, along with private-sector clients in health care, manufacturing and auto sales.

Hoffman Hlavac has a five-year lease at 1605 North Cedar Crest Blvd. in Allentown, with an option for growth if head count increases, Hoffman said.

“We do think we're a known entity” in the Lehigh Valley, Hoffman said, which he hopes will lead to referrals, and he added, “we certainly still hope to continue to have a relationship with Norris McLaughlin.”

Norris McLaughlin, despite the departures, is “in growth mode,” according to Vanarthos, who said the firm had its best revenue year in 2018. The firm presently has 125 lawyers across five offices.

“Obviously, we need to recruit some labor and employment folks out there [in Pennsylvania]—we're already doing that,” Vanarthos said, but “it's not like we're starting from scratch.”

The firm implemented a firmwide practice group structure about a year and a half ago, and now has named new practice leaders to fill the spots held by Hoffman and Hlavac, according to Vanarthos.

Saleem Mawji, a commercial litigation partner in the Allentown office, took over as litigation practice co-chairman and Pennsylvania administrative partner. The litigation practice already had two other co-chairs based in Bridgewater: Daniel Guadalupe and David Roberts.

Hlavac's role as labor and employment co-chairman was filled by S. Graham Simmons III in Allentown. That practice's existing co-chairman is Patrick Collins of Bridgewater.

“We're one firm with different locations,” Vanarthos said.

Geography and leadership have both changed over the years for Norris McLaughlin, especially in connection with the firm's 2009 merger with Tallman Hudders, which at the time had 37 lawyers. Tallman Hudders was formed in 1989 by the split-up of Allentown's Butz Hudders Tallman Stevens & Johnson.

At Norris McLaughlin, Matthew Sorrentino, who had been a name partner at Tallman Hudders, took over as firmwide chairman in 2015, succeeding G. Robert Marcus, who had been chairman since 1974. Sorrentino's chairmanship represented a shift insofar as the firm now had a Pennsylvania-based leader.

Then Sorrentino left Norris McLaughlin in April 2018 to become chief legal officer at Lehigh Valley Health Network, a longtime client of his. In August 2018, Norris McLaughlin elected Vanarthos, a longtime partner, member of the management committee and prior business law practice chairman at the firm, as chairman. Other leadership changes occurred at the same time.

The Hoffman Hlavac departures come not long after Lawrence left, bringing along four other lawyers, to form Lawrence Law LLC of Watchung.

Vanarthos said Norris McLaughlin has remained close with that group, including through referrals. He said he has been recruiting and interviewing for family law practitioners to fill that void, though the firm will not hire as many as the five family lawyers who left.

In the past decade-plus, Norris McLaughlin, previously based in Somerville, has expanded into new markets and at times been aggressive with acquisitions. In 2006, for example, it doubled the size of its New York office to 14 lawyers by merging with Szold & Brandwen, a real estate firm. A year earlier, it acquired five New Jersey attorneys from Schachter, Trombadore, Offen & Stanton in Somerville.

More recently, the firm added an elder law group—partner Shana Siegel, along with a social worker and a Medicaid specialist—from WanderPolo & Siegel of Bloomfield.

“We are trying to grow,” Vanarthos said. ”It's a competitive market out there.”