One of the new additions will be a co-managing partner of Duane Morris' Pittsburgh office.

Duane Morris’ Pittsburgh office gained four commercial litigators from Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott last week, including partner Kevin Allen who now serves as the office’s co-managing partner to help grow the firm’s local presence in one of the nation’s most heavily lawyered legal markets.

Allen was joined by partners Daniel B. McLane and Michael Pest and special counsel Thomas Sanchez, who officially started at Duane Morris on Oct. 1.

In a statement released by the firm, leaders at Duane Morris said the group joins amid a “robust market for trial activity,” and the group’s diverse industry mix will serve as a “growth accelerator” for a now 16-lawyer office in Pittsburgh. Allen, who previously served as a member of the board of directors at Eckert Seamans, will lead the Pittsburgh office as co-managing partner with Kenneth M. Argentieri.

“Kevin, Dan, Mike and Tom offer us an exciting opportunity to expand our Pittsburgh office and do so with a group of highly skilled lawyers dedicated to serving the firm’s clients,” said Sharon L. Caffrey, co-chair of Duane Morris’ trial practice group, in a statement.

Members of the group said Allen and McLane typically take on case matters independently from each other as first chairs, deploying Pest and Sanchez to support them as needed. Their books of business, which include energy companies and supply chain logistics companies, are joining them at their new firm, members of the group said.

For the four attorneys, the move allows them to offer clients a larger geographic platform and work on more complex commercial litigation.

“What we’re hoping for is to grow and expand both existing Duane Morris clients and our own and add to the Duane Morris stable as well,” Allen said. “For new and existing clients, there will be the ability to have a greater geographic reach.”

McLane, who practiced at Eckert Seamans since starting as a summer associate in 1994, said the move allows them to offer clients a firm with an “outstanding reputation” that has a “broader platform.”

“I have clients with regional interests in Texas that Duane Morris has the ability to service,” McLane said.

ALM data indicates Eckert Seamans has more than 300 attorneys and 11 offices, while Duane Morris has 27 offices and 706-lawyer headcount.

Asked to comment on the departures, Eckert Seamans CEO Tim Hudak said in a statement: “We appreciate the many valuable contributions Kevin Allen, Dan McLane, Mike Pest, and Tom Sanchez made to Eckert Seamans over the years. We wish them all the best and look forward to many more years of friendship and collaboration.”

First on Allen’s agenda as co-managing partner of the Pittsburgh office is to establish personal and professional ties with new colleagues and continue to grow the Pittsburgh head count, he said. Having practiced at Eckert Seamans for nine years following a 17-year tenure at Thorp, Reed & Armstrong (which merged into Clark Hill) Allen said he will draw on his network of clients and attorneys in the heavily lawyered city of Pittsburgh.

“I think that Ken’s skills and my skills will be complementary to each other,” he said. “Ken has knowledge with the institution and the office and I’ll bring my own connections in town and experience and thoughts. We think the team of the two of us will be an excellent team that will hopefully serve the firm and our colleagues here at Duane Morris.”

Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.