Dickinson Wright expands footprint in local legal market

Dickinson Wright’s move into northern Nevada will add a deeper level of expertise for the clients of the Reno attorneys who recently joined the firm.

Earlier this month, the Detroit-based law firm announced that it now employs 30 attorneys in the Silver State, following the addition of 13 attorneys at Gordon & Silver offices in Reno, Las Vegas and Carson City.

“We are able to call on professionals from other offices (450 lawyers in 15 states) who have specific experience in certain specialized practice areas” for existing clients, said John Desmond, a member in the firm’s Reno office. He was the managing partner in Gordon Silver’s Reno office and will continue in that role.

“We are seeing the demand for services as the economy grows and evolves,” said Desmond, speaking to the needs of established companies expanding to the area or startups looking to call northern Nevada home. “Practicing from a larger platform and pairing people up with substantive experience is what some clients we are servicing out of the Reno market are looking for,” said Desmond.

Dickinson Wright CEO Bill Burgess echoed his comments in a June 7 interview in Crain’s Detroit Business.

“The motivation for our expansion strategy is that the service of clients is very much a global opportunity and challenge,” Burgess said. “For us to be effective competitors in this industry, we have to have the breadth to serve our clients across North America, the U.S. and globally in certain cases.”

Dickinson Wright’s Reno office at 100 W. Liberty St. will be home to six attorneys including Desmond and Brian Irvine as members as well as Benjamin Kennedy and Justin Bustos as of counsel and Kathleen Brady and Anjail Webster as associates.

They will reunite with the Jeffrey Silver, Gordon Silver’s co-founder and gaming attorney, who joined Dickson Wright last month.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the hiring of the former Gordon Silver’s Reno lawyers adds a well-regarded legal team with deep expertise in litigation, gaming, and intellectual property, according to Dickinson Wright.