After nearly two decades of residency on the East Bay, litigation powerhouse Boies Schiller Flexner is making San Francisco its new home in Northern California and closing down its location in Oakland.

The San Francisco office at 44 Montgomery St., which officially opened in July, allows the firm to be closer to its clients and expand its work in the fast-growing tech community, said Quyen Ta, co-administrative partner of the office.

"We've always been known to be a litigation powerhouse. We take on high-stakes cases for our clients on the plaintiff and on the defense side, and I think that moving into San Francisco is part of the strategy to continue that growth," Ta said. "We have many clients in California and beyond."

Ta has been tapped co-lead the firm's Northern California office along with Kathleen Hartnett, who joined Boies Schiller three years ago from the U.S. Department of Justice. The two partners took over leadership this summer from partner Steve Holtzman, who continues to practice at the firm, representing clients in antitrust and intellectual property matters, as well as other complex litigation.

"In addition to representing our Silicon Valley public company [and] emerging tech clients, there's a number of [various] clients that we represent," Ta added, noting that the firm has expanded its work in California to include areas like international arbitration.

"I think that San Francisco is the perfect hub for it because many of [those clients] have offices here," she continued. "So, when we are here, we're able to service our clients better. And, frankly, to grow several of our practices better, as well."

Boies Schiller opened its Oakland office in 2001. The firm said it has 17 lawyers in San Francisco and Palo Alto and about 50 lawyers total in California.

"There's a lot of wonderful changes that are happening right now where are our firm is looking toward the future, looking [to implement] rational succession planning," Ta said. "And all of this coincided with Boies Schiller Flexner's desire and intention to not only grow our practice, but [also] to be closer to the community that we are a part of."

Not many national law firms have offices in Oakland. According to data from ALM Intelligence, fewer than 10 firms within the NLJ 500 list of largest firms by head count had an Oakland location as of 2018, including Boies Schiller.

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