ORANGE COUNTY

A large Chicago-based law firm, McDermott, Will & Emery, has entered the Orange County legal market by picking up six lawyers from the splintered Los Angeles law firm of Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodward, Quinn & Rossi.

About all that will change are the names on the doors of the Newport Beach offices that until last month housed the local branch of Kadison, Pfaelzer. The Los Angeles-based firm fell apart as a result of defections and an aborted merger with a Boston law firm.

John Miles, a senior real estate partner with the new McDermott, Will branch in Newport, said that the Orange County group already has hired two lawyers and plans to have a 10-attorney staff by the end of the year.