By Sara Merken

NEW YORK, Feb 5 (Reuters) - About two dozen partners have left Perkins Coie to help start up Seattle offices for two competing law firms, Morrison Foerster and McGuireWoods, the firms said in separate announcements on Thursday.

McGuireWoods, founded in Richmond, Virginia, said it hired nine partners, including Rike Connelly and others who were practice leaders at Perkins Coie. San Francisco-founded Morrison Foerster added 15 partners, including Brendan Murphy and David Perez, mostly based in Seattle.

Perkins Coie, a homegrown Seattle firm that later expanded across the United States, is slated to merge with large London-headquartered firm Ashurst later this year, subject to a partnership vote. The deal would create a combined firm of 3,000 lawyers with $2.7 billion in revenue.

Perkins Coie was among four law firms that successfully sued U.S. President Donald Trump's administration last year to block executive orders targeting them over their links to Trump's perceived political enemies.

The firm in a statement thanked the departing lawyers for their contributions.

Connelly, who most recently led Perkins Coie’s business litigation practice, said neither Perkins Coie's impending merger nor its battle with the Trump administration were motivating factors for her team's move.

She said the lawyers had all worked with McGuireWoods attorneys in the past and saw an opportunity to help the firm build a presence in Seattle. The group advises on commercial and product liability disputes.

Morrison Foerster chair Eric McCrath in a statement said entering the Seattle market allows the firm to "get boots on the ground in one of the most active tech hubs in the world."

The former Perkins Coie lawyers joining Morrison Foerster were not immediately available for comment.

Seattle serves as the home base for several large international companies, including Starbucks and Amazon, and has been a hot market for law firm expansion.

London-founded Clyde & Co on Monday opened a Seattle office through a merger with 32-lawyer insurance coverage and litigation firm Forsberg & Umlauf. Firms including Arnold & Porter, Holland & Knight and Dickinson Wright opened locations in the city in 2025.

Two other Seattle-based former Perkins Coie partners, emerging companies lawyers Lee Schindler and Jamie Nicole Johnson, joined Cooley on Tuesday. They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

(Reporting by Sara Merken in New York)