Sidley Launches San Diego, California Office With Five Partners

San Diego – Sidley today announced it has opened an office in San Diego with five partners, its fifth office in California. The firm currently has offices in Century City, Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and San Francisco, with 350 lawyers and business professionals across those offices.

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“San Diego is a dynamic market, with a strong nucleus of life sciences and technology companies, making our entry into San Diego a natural fit for our continued expansion strategy,” said Yvette Ostolaza, Sidley’s Management Committee chair. “We see potential to recruit talent of the highest caliber and provide a differentiated level of service to clients in this growing market. Our five San Diego founding partners reflect the talent that the office will continue to attract.”

“We have served numerous marquee San Diego companies over the years and are excited to cement our commitment to this city and deepen those business relationships,” said Mike Schmidtberger, Sidley’s Executive Committee chair. “We believe our platform and our capabilities in the sectors important to this market will add considerable value to the growing business ecosystem.”

In addition to recently announced partner Jon Olsen (M&A and Emerging Companies and Venture Capital), four other partners are resident in the office – Chris Egleson (Commercial Litigation and Disputes), Eric Kauffman (Labor, Employment and Immigration), Cindy Lovering (Global Finance), and James Lu (Emerging Companies and Venture Capital) – as well as three senior managing associates, Giles Judd (Commercial Litigation and Disputes), Jennifer Kalvelage (Global Finance), and Bryan Liu (Global Finance), and other lawyers and business professionals.

The firm recently welcomed California lateral partners Peter Burke (Global Finance) in Century City, and Rebecca Stuart (Labor, Employment and Immigration) and Shane Goudey (Venture Funds), both in Palo Alto.

Sidley is an elite global law firm. With 2,300 lawyers, annual revenue of US$3.1 billion, and experience that spans 158 years, we have established a reputation using Built to Win℠ legal strategies in successfully representing clients in more than 70 countries on complex transactional, investigation, regulatory, and litigation matters.

With 21 offices strategically situated in key commercial and financial hubs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific, our perspective and our reach are truly global. Our lawyers and business professionals, fluent in more than 80 languages, possess the cultural awareness and cross-border legal acumen needed to bring clarity to a dynamic business landscape.

Sidley has also received 48 Band 1 lawyer rankings. Notably, two partners have received commendations above Band 1. Michael J. Schmidtberger has been ranked as Eminent Practitioner in Hedge Funds (Nationwide). The designation recognizes him for balancing his hedge funds practice with his leadership of Sidley’s Executive Committee. Carter G. Phillips has been has ranked as a Star Individual in the Appellate Law (Nationwide) category.

Sidley has received Band 1 practice area rankings in the following areas:

• Banking & Finance (Illinois)
• Capital Markets: Securitization: ABS (Nationwide)
• Capital Markets: Securitization: RMBS (Nationwide)
• Corporate/M&A & Private Equity (Illinois)
• Corporate/M&A: Highly Regarded (New York)
• Corporate/M&A: Takeover Defense (New York)
• Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation (Illinois)
• Energy Transition (Nationwide)
• Environment (District of Columbia)
• False Claims Act (Nationwide)
• Financial Services Regulation: Broker Dealer (Compliance & Enforcement) (Nationwide)
• Healthcare (District of Columbia)
• Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory (District of Columbia)
• Healthcare: Pharmaceutical/Medical Products Regulatory (Illinois)
• Hedge Funds (Nationwide)
• Insurance: Transactional & Regulatory (Illinois)
• Intellectual Property (Illinois)
• International Trade: Customs (Nationwide)
• International Trade: Remedies & Policy (Nationwide)
• Life Sciences: Regulatory/Compliance (Nationwide)
• Litigation: General Commercial (Illinois)
• Litigation: General Commercial (Texas: Dallas, Fort Worth & Surrounds)
• Litigation: General Commercial: Highly Regarded (New York)
• Litigation: Securities (Illinois)
• Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations (California)
• Private Equity: Buyouts: Mid-Market (Nationwide)
• Transport: Aviation: Transactional (Nationwide)
• Transport: Rail (for Railroads) (Nationwide)