Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM

Longtime Reed Smith employment partner Karl Fritton has left the firm for Littler Mendelson in Philadelphia.

Fritton spent the last 23 years of his career at Reed Smith, including a stint as the leader of the firm's labor and employment practice group. He joined Littler as a shareholder Monday.

“What was attractive about Littler was the strength and breadth and depth of their labor and employment practice around the country,” he said. 

Fritton noted that he was getting to the point in his career where he needed support in various markets around the country beyond what Reed Smith's labor and employment team could provide. Littler has 57 offices in the U.S., compared to 17 for Reed Smith.

“If you have a matter in Boston, and it's important to have some local knowledge about an arbitration or a union, or assistance from a labor lawyer in Boston, Littler gives you that,” he said. “Pick any major city in the U.S., and that type of support is available from Littler.”

Fritton focuses his practice on labor management relations, including collective bargaining, arbitration and litigation before the National Labor Relations Board and federal courts. He has handled hundreds of labor negotiations, labor arbitrations and union representation petitions over the course of his career, including one of the largest elections held to date at the NLRB.

He represents clients in a variety of industries, including energy, food, waste management, steel, construction and automotive.

Fritton added that he and Littler already shared a number of clients, where he handled the labor work and the firm took care of the employment and other subspecialty work.

“Labor law has been a cornerstone of our practice since the firm's inception and the addition of Karl's wide-ranging experience in the field will further strengthen our national platform and the services we provide to clients,” said Tom Bender and Jeremy Roth, co-managing directors of Littler, in a joint statement.

Earlier this year, Littler added six attorneys from Chicago's Franczek Radelet.

Reed Smith, meanwhile, saw several labor and employees depart as part of 2018's large-scale defections to Holland & Knight, including Sara Begley, the Philadelphia partner who chaired the global labor and employment practice from 2012 to 2017. 

“We appreciate Karl's many contributions to Reed Smith and the firm's clients and wish him the best,” said Casey Ryan, global head of legal personnel.