LOS ANGELES — Ten lawyers, including six partners, have left Los Angeles-based Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro to start their own firm, Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside. The new firm opened on Jan. 1.

Keith Elkins, a former Jeffer, Mangels partner who is now name partner at Elkins Kalt, said that alternative billing structures, which have become more prevalent in the current economic downturn, played a role in the group’s decision to start their own firm.