SAN FRANCISCO — In a rare departure from the San Francisco litigation boutique Keker, Van Nest & Peters, partner Quyen Ta has jumped to Boies Schiller Flexner to join the firm's expanding ranks in Northern California.

Ta, who started her career at Keker in 2006 and established a practice focused on intellectual property litigation and class action defense, left Keker on Tuesday. She started work as a partner at BSF on Wednesday.

Ta said in an interview she has no hard feelings toward the firm she is leaving behind. “I love Keker, Van Nest & Peters. I'm a home-grown lawyer. It's a great practice, and I consider those guys friends and family,” she said.

“But I also did this because of the opportunity,” Ta added. “It's an opportunity for me to grow and to help lead and strengthen a Northern California practice [at BSF] that's already strong.”

Ta said the new role will allow her more chances to do plaintiff-side work in the class action space, an area where BSF has developed a reputation. While she has typically done class action defense, working on the other side “makes you a better lawyer strategically,” Ta said.

She said the move was not driven by client conflicts at her prior firm. Ta declined to comment on whether BSF offered significantly more compensation.

In a statement, Keker managing partner Steven Taylor said Ta has been a “valuable part of our firm” since joining in 2006. “She is a great lawyer, and she will be missed. We wish her all the best in her new role, and the new chapter in her career,” Taylor added.

Ta has been active in the Bay Area legal community and outspoken on the need for law firms to be inclusive of women and minorities. She served as a lawyer representative for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California from 2013 to 2016 and has held leadership positions at the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California.

When asked whether she has misgivings about joining BSF in light of reports about the firm's involvement in the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Ta replied that she has none.

“If you're asking me whether I'm concerned about sexual assault and those issues impacting women in the business community, I'm concerned about those issues as well,” Ta said. But she said in researching BSF, she took note of its involvement in cases representing underserved communities—such its victory in a landmark case overturning California's ban on gay marriage, and its work on behalf of sex-trafficking victims.

“For me, it's about the whole picture,” she said, “and in terms of the whole picture, I have absolutely no reservations.”

BSF currently has two offices in the Bay Area, in Oakland and Palo Alto, and brought on two new partners at its Palo Alto office last year. One of them, Travis LeBlanc, was formerly an associate at Keker before later going on to work at the Federal Communications Commission.

In a statement, name partner David Boies said that Ta's ”experience and success in class action and other high-stakes litigation will benefit our clients in California and globally.” He added, “I am delighted to welcome Quyen as my partner.”