10 health care attorneys depart McDonough law firm
Ten attorneys from McDonough, Holland & Allen are moving to global law firm DLA Piper, taking with them the firm's managed health care practice.
Both McDonough management and several of the departing attorneys confirmed the mass move Friday and called it amicable.
"Make no bones about it, I hate to see people I've worked this long with leave. They're friends, partners and fine lawyers," said Ed Quinn, a managing shareholder at the McDonough firm, Sacramento's second-largest with more than 100 lawyers among its 180 employees.
Quinn was notified of the planned departures last weekend and announced it to staff on Monday, he said.
Quinn would not confirm the names of all 10 attorneys, saying some had not yet formally tendered their resignations, but two – Stephen Goff and Marcia Augsburger – have nearly 40 years' experience at the firm between them.
Goff is the lead litigation attorney in McDonough's health care practice group.
According to the firm's Web site, Goff's work includes handling contract and "quasi-contract disputes" between health care providers and payers.
Goff was unavailable for comment Friday.
Augsburger, with 20 years at McDonough, represents a variety of health plan services and medical startup companies. Augsburger said Friday she came to her decision separately.
She will move to DLA Piper's San Francisco office.
"I'd been at the firm 20 years and felt like I needed to have a larger platform for my clients," she said. "I felt like a new environment would be a good fit."
DLA Piper is an international business law firm with eight California offices, including Sacramento.
The 10 McDonough attorneys and approximately seven staffers will stay on at the firm through the end of March.
Quinn said the moves will have no "short-term implications for the firm" and McDonough will continue to represent health care clients, though the managed care practice group will likely not be replaced.
"We don't have plans to replicate that practice, but we will plan to represent health care clients," Quinn said.