Baker McKenzie Adds 17-Lawyer Munger Tolles Corporate Team (2)

Baker McKenzie is picking up a 17-lawyer corporate group from Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, the latest move to expand its deals roster.

Eleven lawyers are moving to Baker McKenzie as partners, including Jennifer Broder, Kimberly Chi, David Goldman, Michael Greaney, and Tyler Hilton, the firm said Wednesday. Other additions include Judith Kitano, Kelly Kriebs, David Lee, Brett Rodda, Matthew Schonholz, and Nikole Zoumberakis.

“This is one of the truly elite transactional groups in California,” Leif King, head of Baker McKenzie’s California transactional practice, said in an interview.

The group, which also includes six associates, represents the bulk of Munger Tolles’ corporate team. The California-founded firm has deep ties to Warren Buffett: cofounder Charlie Munger served as the billionaire’s top advisor until Munger’s death last year and partner Ronald Olson acts as de facto legal chief for Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

The departing lawyers have advised on several high-profile deals, including Berkshire’s $11.6 billion acquisition of insurance company Alleghany Corp. in 2022. They also guided Intel’s $9 billion divisional sale to SK Hynix and Oaktree Capital Management’s sale of a majority stake to Brookfield Asset Management for $4.7 billion.

The team “fits right within” Baker McKenzie’s focus on growing its M&A and private equity practices, said Colin Murray, CEO of the firm’s North America region. “We will have one of the largest, if not the largest M&A practices in California” following the hires, he said.

The firm added Latham & Watkins Bay Area dealmaker Eric Schwartzman in January, making him head of its California private equity practice. On the East Coast, Baker McKenzie also added a capital markets and finance team from Paul Hastings in New York. The group includes Michael Fitzgerald, who was the former co-chair of its Latin America practice group.

“The strategy that Baker has decided to follow fits squarely with what we want to do with our practice and what we’ve been working on here as a group for the past several years,” said Rodda.

Depleted Bench

The departures gut Munger Tolles’ corporate team, leaving six lawyers behind, according to the firm’s website. Three of the remaining attorneys, including Olson and veteran lawyer Robert Denham, are listed as partners.

“Our clients continue to trust us with their most important matters, including complex litigation and crisis management, and we continue to attract the best lawyers in the country,” said Munger Tolles spokesperson.

The firm and Olson declined to comment on what the exits mean for Munger Tolles’ ongoing relationship with Berkshire Hathaway. Representatives for Berkshire didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Broder and Rodda led the Munger Tolles team on Berkshire’s purchase of Alleghany, the company’s sole acquisition that year. The team has advised the holding company on several transactions.

Olson is a Berkshire board member who advises the company—it operates without an in-house legal team—on a wide range of issues. He joined Munger Tolles in 1968, six years after it was founded in California.

Munger left early on to work directly with Buffett as his business partner and vice-chair of Berkshire Hathway. He died in November 2023.

Berkshire Hathaway paid Munger Tolles $12.5 million for legal services last year, according to the company’s annual proxy statement.

Rodda said the team moving to Baker McKenzie will continue to work with its former colleagues to service joint clients.

“We do want to thank our incredible colleagues and Munger Tolles for all of the opportunities that they’ve created for us over time, and we are going to continue to work together on a number of things going forward,” said Rodda, who returned to Munger Tolles in 2018 after serving as general counsel of Silver Point Capital.

The group is moving at a time when M&A markets are starting to revive after a two-year lull. Baker McKenzie was not among the leading deals advisors in the first quarter of this year, a space often held by top Wall Street firms.

“There is plenty of room to continue to press our advantage in this market and to add to the strength that we have in California that complements our unparalleled global platform,” King said.

The team’s move was brokered by Divya Bala, founder of boutique legal recruitment firm Avance Partner Search.