After growing from five to 27 lawyers over the last five years in Los Angeles, litigation-focused Shook, Hardy & Bacon is trying to reach “critical mass” in the city by adding roughly 20 more lawyers over the next five years.

“To have critical mass, to really have a presence in the Los Angeles market and be a litigation powerhouse, I think you need about 45 to 50 lawyers,” said Shook Hardy’s Los Angeles office managing partner Michael Mallow, adding that he’d like to have that number in the next five years.