Law firms become choice landing points for L.A. politicos.

For local ex-politicos these days, it looks like the hottest landing spots are at some of the city's top law firms.

Several factors--term limits putting more politicians on the pavement, Sarbanes-Oxley keeping accounting firms out of the consulting arena and more aggressive regulators--are putting law firms in business with former public servants.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson, former Mayor Richard Riordan, one-time U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner and former Mayor Jim Hahn's Chief of Staff Tim Mocker have all recently joined L.A. law firms and are using their political clout to add client value.

The trend isn't limited to household names, however.

Glenn Gritzner, for example, knew that his job as second in command to Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Roy Romer wouldn't last forever. With political battles constantly raging around the office, he had to consider his future. Complicating the situation was his bewildering title: Special Assistant to the Superintendent, Director of External Affairs and Administration, and Coordinator of Local Government Relations.

The reality behind the job done by Gritzner, a Harvard University-educated political strategist, was significant: He was in charge of three bond campaigns that raised more than $11 billion to construct and repair schools. But even Gritzner didn't know where he might hope to land if he left the district.

"With that title, people didn't know what I did," Gritzner said. "It was difficult to know if I would take a step up or a step down. Would a chief of staff spot with a councilmember be a lateral move? I didn't know."

Enter Darry Sragow, a partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. The former Democratic strategist had been hired to head the L.A. office of the firm's public law and policy strategies practice in April 2005. Sragow and Gritzner had become friends when Sragow worked with the School District. Sragow made Gritzner the firm's first non-attorney hire in L.A.

"He was clearly the one for the job," said Sragow, who had an opening in October, but waited four months for Gritzner to complete his work with the LAUSD. "He was who I had in mind all the time."

Spreading trend

Former politicians using their ties to lobby on behalf of clients is a time-honored practice in Washington D.C. But several local law firms are kicking political consulting practices into high gear.

The practices have been established at Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, Bingham McCutcheon LLP, Duane Morris LLP and Brian Cave LLP. Manatt's practice is located in Washington, D.C. and Brian Cave's is headquartered in Shanghai and monitored in Los Angeles.

The ranks of the firms' business-angled units are not filled solely by political refugees, however.

Manatt Phelps has recently started a health care group including lawyers and health care professionals. Duane Morris has 11 affiliated businesses offering a range of services including accounting, consulting, lobbying, investment and brand management.

But even in nearly all of these specialized consulting businesses, politics is a key ingredient.

"I think what we've found, particularly in the health care area, is that clients are trying to understand where the government is going, how to restructure given those changes and what the likely changes are going to be," William S. Bernstein, administrative partner of Manatt's New York office and head of the Healthcare Solutions Group. "It's a real merger of policy, law and finance, and knowledge of the way government works provides a successful outcome."

His staff is a combination of lawyers, politicians and health care industry experts.

Cultural shift?

The changes brought about by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act have created something of a vacuum for business clients seeking guidance, and term limits have deepened the pool of political professionals looking for new opportunities. But many see public perception as just as significant a factor in the forays by law firms into new commercial frontiers.

"I think that at core the baby boomers ... do not trust big institutions and that includes big government," Sragow said. "'They don't trust big businesses. They don't trust large aggregations of power and they're not intimidated by large institutions and they're willing to go toe-to-toe with them."

Businesses, therefore, need extra help navigating a more treacherous political landscape. Pete Wilson agreed.

"Regulators are more activist than ever before," he said. "They can have a very dramatic impact and adverse impact upon our clients in a public way that can affect share value and how they do business."