O Melveny Myers

As historian Kevin Starr has argued, California's most distinctive contribution to the American spirit may be the insistence that the work ethic and the good life are not mutually incompatible. And among Los Angeles' pioneers, there were few who managed to blend commerce and the life of the mind quite as harmoniously as Henry O'Melveny, the man who lent his considerable talents in equal measure to his law firm, fishing and his flower garden.

Daniel M. Petrocelli and his Century City law firm probably won't be fully compensated for their work defending Jeffrey K. Skilling, as the former Enron Corp. chief executive appears to have exhausted his defense fund. But the payoff down the road could be well worth it, even if Skilling is convicted. The decision to defend Skilling is seen as a business move by Petrocelli and his firm, O'Melveny & Myers, to burnish their reputation and expertise in white-collar criminal defense.

Recognizing that the Internet spells new and needed opportunity for big law firms, O'Melveny & Myers is building a high-technology practice--often taking stock in lieu of legal fees. The move by O'Melveny, a major Los Angeles firm, confirms Southern California's growing status as a center for venture capital and technology companies.

Warren Christopher, the lawyer-diplomat who heads O'Melveny & Myers, made it the hard way. Christopher, 61, was born in Scranton, N.D., a town of 300 people, and grew up during the Depression. His father, the cashier at the local bank, suffered a stroke when the bank almost collapsed in 1936. When Christopher was 13, the family moved to California because of his father's failing health. They settled in a bungalow court in Hollywood.

Amid the skyscrapers that tower over the legal and financial center of modern Los Angeles, one 25-story building stands as a symbol of both the city's past and future. The bronze and granite structure, completed in 1983 at a cost of $95 million, is the headquarters of O'Melveny & Myers, the first major law firm in the United States to build its own skyscraper home.

Warren Christopher, whose name has become inexorably linked to police reform in Los Angeles, has announced that he will step aside as head of O'Melveny & Myers, the city's oldest and one of the country's most prestigious law firms. Christopher, 66, who has been chairman of the firm's management committee for 10 years, will continue to be a partner but will hand over the role of directing the firm to Charles W. Bender, currently its managing partner.

Greg Paul has been named senior vice president-business affairs and general counsel at Castle Rock Entertainment. Paul previously was a partner with the law firm O'Melveny & Myers.