When San Francisco-based Gordon & Rees was looking to expand into Pennsylvania, it was initially eyeing Philadelphia, but it first made an unexpected pit stop in Pittsburgh in 2012 with the hiring of a group of attorneys from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney.

Gordon & Rees made waves again when it grabbed eight partners at the start of 2013 from Cozen O’Connor, including three of the firm’s senior insurance litigators, to open a Philadelphia location.