BakerHostetler has strengthened its Los Angeles office with the addition of eight attorneys, including the former co-head of Proskauer Rose LLP's private equity and mergers & acquisitions group and the former vice chair of Polsinelli PC's securities & corporate finance practice, the firm announced on Monday.

After serving in that leadership role at Proskauer, Will Chuchawat has joined BakerHostetler as a partner and will co-lead the firm's M&A team, which has 97 attorneys, according to a firm spokesperson. JR Lanis also came aboard as a partner following his leadership position at Polsinelli.

Along with Chuchawat, the firm also added two former Proskauer associates, Josh Demple and Seung Kim, who joined as associates. Joining Lanis from Polsinelli is Bryan Wasser, a former Polsinelli principal, who moved to BakerHostetler as a partner. The firm also added Mark Ramzy, who was twice a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, as a partner at BakerHostetler.

The firm said a partner and counsel are set to join this team later this month, but did not immediately release their names.

Chuchawat told Law360 Pulse on Monday that he was drawn to the firm's incredible reputation, its lovely and warm people and the tremendous opportunity to work on the West Coast. He also said that he previously worked with Ramzy, Demple and Kim at Proskauer and Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

"They've really made a huge investment in growing out their M&A capabilities," Chuchawat said of BakerHostetler. "They've focused on delivering complete solutions for their client base. They've really executed on their game plan for growth. So folks will always talk about strategy but then there's no results unless you execute. They've really shown that they are executing on their strategy by the amount of growth that they've had on the West Coast."

Chuchawat said the firm has brought in high-quality attorneys, specialists and built out all the practice areas that support an M&A practice.

"I think the platform opportunity is focusing on the middle market, being able to service clients across the spectrum from all the different areas, whether it's in private equity, public companies, privately-held companies," he said. "That's what I'm excited about is being able to really service all of my entire client base."

Chuchawat said he's "incredibly busy" despite the chatter about M&A deals decreasing, saying he thinks rumors of M&A deals' demise are exaggerated.

"In the long haul, if you believe in the business that you want to acquire or have a great business that you're looking to sell, deals are still going to get done," he said. "People think about it not just 'I'll buy it and then I'm going to sell it in two seconds.' For most [acquisitions], you are going to buy it for the long haul or for some longer period of time."

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