Despite being a fiercely competitive market, the Golden State is still attracting firms across the nation seeking to capitalize on the ample amount of legal work emerging in the region.

California's legal work is largely driven by the technology, real estate and entertainment industries, but other corporate work thrives too, especially in Southern California. Historically, Los Angeles has been a general practice legal market, but tech-focused firms have increased their presence there as well in recent years.

Here is a shortlist of some of the new offices in both Northern and Southern California.

San Francisco and Silicon Valley

Aiming to serve more clients on the West Coast, Cleveland-based Benesch announced early in the year that it opened its first California office in San Francisco. Located at One Montgomery Tower, the new location is led by commercial litigation partner Krista Enns, who joined Benesch in December from Winston & Strawn with litigation associates Jennifer Miller and Whitney Carlson.

"To start with, [the San Francisco office] is going to be litigation heavy," Enns said in a February interview. "As we grow, we are looking to add attorneys in the IP space [and] we would love to add labor and employment to provide California-specific assistance."

Following its announcement last October of plans to open in San Francisco, New York-based litigation boutique Desmarais unveiled that office in June, marking the firm's first new location since it was established in 2010 by John Desmarais, a former Kirkland & Ellis practice leader.

The San Francisco office, which resides at 101 California St., is led by partner Peter Magic, who relocated from New York. John Desmarais also splits his time between New York and California.

In August, New York-based law firm Jackson Lewis brought on Silicon Valley litigator Neda Dal Cielo from rival labor and employment powerhouse Littler Mendelson to launch a new San Jose office. The Silicon Valley outpost is Jackson Lewis' sixth office in California.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which opened its first West Coast office in Palo Alto last year, now has a second California office in San Francisco. The New York white-shoe firm brought on two litigators from Keker, Van Nest & Peters, partner Simona Agnolucci and Benedict "Ben" Hur, to co-lead the new location.

Agnolucci and Hur represent technology companies, investors and individuals in litigation, investigations, criminal prosecutions and enforcement actions. The pair will build a litigation team on the West Coast, the firm said in a statement.

Los Angeles

Kansas City, Missouri-based Shook, Hardy & Bacon launched a new office in Los Angeles in April after taking a five-attorney litigation team from Sidley Austin.

The Los Angeles outpost in Century City is led by partners Michael Mallow and Mark Campbell. Mallow previously served as the co-head of Sidley's consumer class action defense practice. He and Campbell made the move with partner Rachel Straus, of counsel Darlene Cho and associate Matt Light.

In Los Angeles, they joined current Shook Hardy partner Frank Kelly and of counsel Andrew Trask. LA is Shook's third location in California, where it also has offices in Orange County and San Francisco.

New York-based securities law firm Sichenzia Ross Ference also set up a Los Angeles office in September after hiring two local partners from CKR Law.

Partners Joe Tagliaferro III and Barry Brust lead the new office, and existing litigation associate Gary Varnavides relocated from New York to join them in Los Angeles. The three-lawyer Los Angeles office will focus on corporate, securities and litigation work, the firm said.

Santa Monica

In addition to the newcomers from outside the state, in 2019, we also saw a migration of several tech-focused Northern California firms to the south, as their clients increasingly explore the growing business opportunities in Silicon Beach.

Silicon Valley's Fenwick & West opened its sixth office in Santa Monica in March, and its first in Southern California. The Santa Monica office is led by partner Michael Brown, who was joined by partners Faisal Rashid and Ran Ben-Tzur, along with five associates and staff.

Also joining the Silicon Beach cohort, Boston-based Goodwin Procter set up an office in Santa Monica over the summer as part of its plan to strengthen its technology and private equity capabilities. A.J. Weidhaas, co-chairman of Goodwin's private equity practice, is leading the new office.

The Santa Monica office is Goodwin's second in Southern California, as it already has a location in Downtown Los Angeles.

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The New Players in California in 2018