Practice Developments

Gavin Law Offices, which handles intellectual property matters for clients, earlier this month opened an outpost in Raleigh, North Carolina, after picking up attorney Alan Etkin. It’s the firm’s first office outside of Virginia.

Founder Pam Gavin said the expansion is similar to its January push into Charlottesville when longtime solo attorney Elva Mason Holland joined the fold.

“This is very much a similar story,” Gavin said of Etkin.

Etkin, who earned his law degree from Emory University, handles a variety of business law issues for closely held corporations.

“Alan and I worked together for years. He was in house with a big client,” Gavin said. “The company he was with was sold and he was doing his own thing and I said, ‘Why don’t we tackle this together?’”

Gavin also liked the idea of having an office in Raleigh to tap into that area’s concentration of tech firms and startups, a ripe environment for the firm’s bread-and-butter IP practice.

“It’s a great market for tech and intellectual property,” she said.

The firm, founded about 15 years ago after Gavin’s stints at McGuireWoods and Reed Smith, now has an attorney headcount of seven.

Gavin said she’ll keep her eye out for future growth through similar deals with attorneys.

“I’m always plotting and planning,” she said. “I’m just going to continue to grow.”

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A Richmond law firm that boasts clients in the entertainment industry has expanded its practice westward.

Gavin Law Office, which was founded locally in 2002, last month opened an office in Charlottesville.

The expansion was prompted by the addition of Elva Mason Holland, a Charlottesville attorney who had a longtime solo practice before joining Gavin.

Firm founder Pam Gavin said she’s had her eye on Holland for years.

“I’ve been trying to get her to work with me forever,” Gavin said. “She’s been solo. She needs more depth to the bench and I’m always interested in growing.”

Gavin said her firm’s practice and Holland’s book of business fit nicely together. Gavin Law represents musicians and a range of businesses, from startups up to large companies, in intellectual property matters. Holland represents talent in the entertainment business.

The new addition brings Gavin’s attorney headcount to six. Its local office is in Henrico County at 2229 Pump Road.

Holland has her bachelor’s and law degrees from UVA.

Gavin, also a UVA grad, began her career in bank marketing, before going back to law school at William & Mary. She started her own firm in 2004 after stints at McGuireWoods and Reed Smith.

Gavin has expanded the firm previously, including by adding a solo practioner in Bedford years back, before that attorney in that office decided to go back out on his own. She said this latest stop in Charlottesville won’t be the firm’s last.

“I’m always planning and plotting,” she said. “Continued expansion is on the horizon.”

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