Baker McKenzie announced today that Michael Brewer will serve as the Managing Partner of the Firm’s California offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Los Angeles. Michael's appointment takes effect immediately, and he succeeds Barbara Klementz, who recently concluded her four-year term leading the Firm's California offices.
Based in San Francisco, Michael specializes in employment disputes and trial work. In addition to his Managing Partner role, he is also the Chair of the Firm’s Global Employment & Compensation Practice. For over two decades, Michael has represented multi-national and US-based clients in a range of labor and employment matters, including wage and hour class actions, trade secrets and non-compete litigation, whistleblower retaliation, discrimination, wrongful discharge in addition to employment contract, sexual harassment and related claims. He has litigated over 500 employment disputes to conclusion, and Super Lawyers has repeatedly recognized Michael for his superior defense of employment claims.
“Mike is a top-notch employment litigator and a respected leader at our Firm, who will provide our California offices with a steady hand as we navigate our return to the office in the Fall,” said Colin Murray, the Firm’s North America Chief Executive Officer. “We also look forward to working closely with Mike as we continue to build market-leading practices in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.”
While Michael is resident in San Francisco, he will spend substantial time in both Palo Alto and Los Angeles. Both offices have seen significant growth over the past two years. Since the end of 2019, when the Firm began boosting the Tech M&A practice with the addition of M&A Partners Leif King, Lisa Fontenot and Derek Liu, the Palo Alto office has grown by 25 percent. The Los Angeles office has grown from 9 lawyers at its launch in 2018 to more than 37 lawyers and business professionals today under the leadership of Perrie Weiner, Partner-in-Charge, Los Angeles, who also recently oversaw a move to larger space.
“I’m excited to take on this new leadership role, and I will continue to focus on the growth of our capabilities in California, especially in practices focused on the technology and life sciences industries,” said Michael.