McGuireWoods has taken on a group of 11 lawyers from boutique insurance disputes firm Pasich, which shut its doors on Monday (5 August).

The incoming group, which includes six partners, will join McGuireWoods’ litigation team in its Century City office in California, strengthening the top 50 US law firm’s commercial insurance and recovery bench. The group specialise in helping clients recover losses in a range of commercial disputes, including business interruption, product recall, event cancellation and movie and television production, among others.

The team is led by two of Pasich’s founders – Kirk Pasich and Shaun Crosner – alongside partners Michael Gehrt, Craig Hirsch, Christopher Pasich and Sandra Smith Thayer, counsel Pamela Woods and associates Daria Clecicov, Eliza Logan, Noelle Malindzak and Caitlin Oswald. Their arrivals follow the addition of another Pasich co-founder – Mikaela Whitman – who joined the firm back in January.

Noreen Kelly, McGuireWoods’ deputy managing partner for litigation, said: “The addition of Kirk Pasich and the other team members will solidify us as having one of the preeminent, top-tier insurance recovery practices in the United States with unparalleled capabilities from coast to coast and globally.”

Kirk Pasich will co-lead the firm’s international insurance recovery practice alongside McGuireWoods partner Tony Tatum. Pasich helped set up the eponymously named firm in 2017, having previously worked at Liner prior to its merger with DLA Piper. He is also a record producer and co-founder of Los Angeles-based Blue Elan Records.

Crosner, meantime, will focus on West Coast recovery matters. He was also formerly at Liner, having previously spent close to seven years at Dickstein Shapiro.

Pasich said: “McGuireWoods provides a platform that allows us to take our practice to another level. The firm’s cutting-edge litigation and appellate capabilities, collaborative culture and innovative approach to client service set McGuireWoods apart and we are excited to join this world-class team.”

Pasich issued a statement on Monday that it is no longer practising law. As well as the 11 lawyers joining McGuireWoods, two are heading to Blank Rome in New York (former managing partner Jeffrey Schulman and managing associate Stephen Wah), one has set up his own firm (Law Offices of Nathan M. Davis, PC) and another is heading in-house to become general counsel at Northern California property firm Seeno Homes (Jacquelyn Heitman).