Law Firm

The law firm of Sullivan, Walsh, Rossbacher & Wood has signed a $3.4-million, 10-year lease for 15,000 square feet of office space in Biltmore Towers, downtown, starting in August, according to the Charles Dunn Co.

Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) will join a New York law firm as a senior policy adviser but will remain in Washington to help President Reagan in any way he can, it was announced Tuesday. Laxalt will become a partner in Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Heine, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey.

The prosecutor who won drug-trafficking indictments against Panamanian Gen. Manuel A. Noriega and top leaders of the Medellin, Colombia, cartel resigned Wednesday from the U.S. attorney's office. Richard Gregorie, 41, chief assistant to U.S. Atty. Dexter Lehtinen, said he will join a private law firm that specializes in civil cases.

Michelle M. Fujimoto has been appointed a partner in the law firm of Palmieri, Tyler, Wiener, Wilhelm & Waldron in Irvine. She is a litigation attorney handling product liability defense, with an emphasis in medical devices, commercial disputes, employment and environmental defense work.

The law firm of Haight, Dickson, Brown & Bonesteel has signed a five-year, $7.7-million lease for 50,000 square feet of office space in the 100 Wilshire Building, Santa Monica. Beitler Commerical Realty Services and Davis/Olson Corp. represented the tenants; Southmark Pacific Leasing Inc. represented the owner, an unidentified Japanese firm.

The City Council voted Wednesday to reject an increase in the Department of Water and Power's contract with a law firm from $5.3 million to $12.8 million. Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa cited a report in The Times that the city's payments to law firms had doubled in five years. He said the three-year extension for the Van Ness Feldman law firm was not needed because federal regulators had ruled in the city's favor on an electricity dispute that the firm was handling.

The Los Angeles office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a Philadelphia-based law firm, will move Nov. 1 from 611 West 6th St. to 64,155 square feet of space on the top three floors of Chase Plaza at 8th Street and Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. Cushman Realty Corp. represented the law firm in the $30-million transaction, which has a 15-year term, with 10-year renewal and expansion options. The expansion options could add another 42,768 square feet of space.

A major New York law firm plans to open its first Los Angeles office in the fall at Citicorp Center in Citicorp Plaza. The firm--Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson--has a staff of 300 attorneys, who handle securities, tax, litigation, government contracts, real estate, technology, transfers and energy law. It is the third major New York law firm to move into Citicorp Center, joining Shearman & Sterling and Mendes & Mount.

The prominent Baltimore law firm of Venable, Baetjer & Howard agreed to pay the state of Maryland for its role in the 1985 near-collapse of the state's savings and loan industry. The state filed a $450-million suit against the law firm in July, charging that poor legal advice that the firm allegedly gave to the state's quasi-public thrift institution insurer plunged the savings and loan industry into a crisis. In agreeing to the settlement, Venable specifically denied any wrongdoing.

The 60-attorney Morgan, Lewis & Bockius law firm will relocate its offices to the Chase Plaza, having signed a 15-year lease for 64,000 square feet, valued at $30 million, with options for an additional 60,000 square feet. The firm is now at 611 West 6th St. The new structure, expected to open this spring, at 8th Street and Grand Avenue, is a project of Houston-based Treptow Development Co. Cushman Realty Corp.