Murchison Opens an office in the East Bay

December 3, 2002

The Recorder

The 78-lawyer insurance and corporate litigation boutique of Murchison & Cumming opened a Northern California office Monday to service a spate of insurance company client that kept asking for a local contact.

Michael B. Lawler, a senior Murchison lawyer who has been with the Los Angles based firm for 31 years, relocated to Pleasanton to open and manage the new satellite office. "The firm will likely relocate a few attorneys from other offices as wll as hire from the local market in coming months," Lawler said.

"We had an immediate need to open," Lawler said, adding that several clients in recent months were encouraging the firm to expand northward. The firm represents such companies as the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co., Allianz Insurance Co., and Chubb Insurance Co.

The firm chose to open in Pleasanton in part for its easy access to San Jose as well as San Francisco, Lawler said. He said he will use the coming months to study the local markets to determine if the firm needs to move into San Francisco or Silicon Valley.