Dorsey & Whitney hires more lawyers in busy Salt Lake City

The LDS Church’s Mormon Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

(Reuters) – Dorsey & Whitney said Thursday it’s become the latest large law firm to grow in Salt Lake City, swiping a four-partner IP team from another firm that has recently lost a number of attorneys in the region.

Minneapolis-founded Dorsey has added Stoel Rives partners Aaron Barker, Matthew Bethards, Jason McCammon and Jordan Olsen a few weeks after bringing on trademark partner Catherine Parrish Lake, also from Stoel Rives.

While several large law firms have recently opened new offices in Salt Lake City, Dorsey is among the handful that’s been there beyond the past few years. It opened in the Utah capital in 1996, according to a spokesperson.

Still, the firm said it has grown its Salt Lake City ranks by more than 65% since 2015. There are now 80 lawyers in the office, out of 569 lawyers at the 20-office firm, the spokesperson said.

The out-of-town firms that have set up shop in the city since 2020 include Kirkland & Ellis, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Mayer Brown, Foley & Lardner and Greenberg Traurig.

Firms have cited technology, life sciences and other business activity in the Mountain West region as a draw to the market, in addition to other factors like area universities.

The new IP hires at Dorsey come from Portland, Oregon-founded Stoel Rives, which has seen a slew of lawyers depart for newcomer firms entering Salt Lake City, including Mayer Brown and Foley & Lardner in recent months.

Melissa Jones, managing partner of Stoel Rives, said in a statement the departures weren’t unexpected as the market is in “transition” and noted the firm just added an IP team from Dorsey in Seattle.

(This story has been updated to include a statement from Stoel Rives and reflect the number of lawyers in Dorsey’s office)

Read more:

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Kirkland eyes local law schools with Salt Lake City office launch

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