Several law firms either expanded or opened up offices in Los Angeles in recent months, underscoring a growing demand for legal practices, including labor and employment, financial and venture markets and intellectual property litigation.

The trend is a continuation of a recent pattern, said Kevin Bender, managing director of real estate leasing firm Jones Lang LaSalle’s Los Angeles office. JLL publishes biannual reports on the country’s top nine markets for legal work, including Los Angeles, which it said contains about 86 Am Law 100 firms leasing a combined 4.5 million square feet.