Two Irvine-Based Law Firms Merge, Plan Expansion

The legal defense firm of DiCaro & D’Antony has merged with another Irvine firm to form a 25-lawyer operation that specializes in medical and pharmaceutical malpractice and construction litigation.

The firm merged with Highman, Dillard & Fuller to form a new entity called DiCaro, Highman, D’Antony, Dillard, Fuller & Gregor. The new firm has two offices in Irvine, which will be combined later this year, and one in San Diego.

John R. DiCaro said the merger, effective Jan. 1, should work well because the two firms complement each other. Both firms specialize in business-related litigation but in different industries, he said.

The new firm expects to hire 10 more lawyers this year and to promote several associates to partner, DiCaro said. The new firm has six partners.

The two firms had been working together for more than a year, especially in DiCaro & D’Antony’s San Diego office, and they spent the last seven months putting the merger together, DiCaro said. Several Highman partners also had worked with DiCaro in the early 1970s.

DiCaro and Joseph S. D’Antony have worked together since the mid-1970s, often as part of other firms.

In the mid-1980s, they merged with Robinson & Robinson, a father-and-son law firm that specialized in representing plaintiffs injured by defective products. That merger was part of a plan to become a full-service firm, which was to include a third firm with a business law practice, DiCaro said. But insurance carriers that retained DiCaro & D’Antony were wary about possible conflicts, he said, and the plan fell apart.