The ability to provide top-level transactional and litigation work — both in health care and real estate — was never in doubt. Anjana Patel, Andrew Kaplan and Anthony Argiropoulos and the rest of the team had been doing that for decades in New Jersey. It was a big reason why Baker Donelson jumped at the opportunity to have this group start the firm’s presence in the state last summer.
How much the group would benefit from connecting with the Baker Donelson brand — its more than 700 attorneys and its national reputation — was the question.
Thursday night, Patel provided the answer.
“It’s been even better than we thought it would be,” she said.
“You get the best of both worlds. You get the local and regional New Jersey and Northeast presence, but you get the reach of a national firm. You get all the resources that go with that. The excitement is still there.”
For good reason.
Patel, speaking at an event to formally open the firm’s Princeton location (the firm is building out new space in MetroPark, too), said the ability to better serve detailed client needs (think of securities law, bankruptcy questions, M&A activity) is now readily available.
“We used to have to refer that to a third party,” she said. “Here, we have people who can just jump in.”
Patel, who serves as the office managing partner of both offices, said the group has been equally thrilled by how quickly the community has embraced Baker Donelson, even in a market that knew the lawyers long before it knew the new name on the door.
“We’re getting traction on brand recognition, which I personally find very rewarding,” she said.
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Kaplan and Argiropoulos have been around the New Jersey legal scene for more than 25 years, working at numerous firms since they first came together as associates at Fox Rothschild.
Jumping to Baker Donelson — and getting to work out of Princeton (not just a nearby location that uses the Princeton address) — has been unlike anything they’ve ever experienced, they said.
“We’re in Princeton — at an actual office in Princeton,” Argiropoulos said. “I can’t underscore that enough. We’ve worked in ‘Princeton offices’ for entire careers, never actually in Princeton.
“There’s a difference. There’s a vibe, whether it’s the college vibe or the academic vibe or just the Princeton vibe. It’s just a cool vibe.”
They aren’t the only ones who have noticed.
“There’s nothing more flattering than to have someone who you’ve worked with at another law firm want to come and check it out, wants to have serious discussions about, ‘How can I catch this wave, too?’” Argiropoulos said. “People want to be here. That’s what I keep hearing. People want to be here.”
Kaplan, who helps lead the firm’s real estate push in New Jersey and is a co‑chair of Baker Donelson’s national real estate department, has seen the ‘why.’
“Joining Baker Donelson from the real estate side made all the sense in the world,” he said. “My clients have grown nationally, outside the Mid‑Atlantic into the southern states, down into Florida, westward toward Texas.
“When you look at the Baker footprint and the growth of Baker Donelson across practice areas, across states, across geographies — having a truly national presence is incredible.”
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Atlanta … Nashville … New Orleans … Raleigh.
Baker Donelson has offices in all those spots and more in the Southeast. And it had representatives from many of those offices in Princeton on Thursday night — and on so many days and nights since last summer, when the core group in New Jersey began working out of temporary space, prior to the move to the office at 281 Witherspoon Street earlier this year.
It’s all part of a firm philosophy of all offices working together, said Mark Carlson, Baker Donelson’s chief growth officer, who is based in the Atlanta office.
“They’ve got New Jersey lawyers collaborating with people in New Orleans or Nashville or Atlanta, which might not be what you’d expect, but because of the structure of our firm and the collaborative nature of the group, they’re doing it all the time,”
It’s also why, even though the firm has a central back office in Memphis, it does not necessarily have a headquarters. Patel has embraced that.
“It’s intentional,” she said. “We don’t want other offices to feel like one office is the mothership.”
Carlson said intentionality led the firm to the New Jersey team. It was about finding the right team, not just putting a flag in the region, he said.
“We’re very focused on industries, and so when we find a team that culturally fits well with us, that aligns with our industry strengths,” he said. “We honestly don’t care where they are. This group was in New Jersey, so it was a perfect fit.”
One that already feels fully integrated, Carlson said.
“So far, it’s been fantastic,” he said. “The whole team has over‑performed on what they said they were going to do. They’ve integrated well.
“If our biggest problem is that we don’t have enough desks for all the lawyers we’re hiring, we’ll take that — it’s a good problem to have.”
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Patel splits her time between Princeton and MetroPark. The obvious question Thursday night — inside a beautifully conceived space that already was nearing capacity — is whether a third location is in the future.
Patel and Carlson didn’t discount the idea. And while Carlson made it clear that nothing is in the works right now …
“We would be very interested in growth in New Jersey if it’s the right cultural, economic and industry fit for us,” he said.
Patel said this year is about continuing to establish the Baker Donelson brand in New Jersey. And continuing to add to the team that will do it.
“We started with 26 and we’ve already added people,” she said. “We are growing and looking to grow.”
That starts with summer associates. The firm will have two in Princeton and one in MetroPark. But it continues year-round. Patel said the firm is eager to tell its story. It recently joined the Princeton-Mercer Chamber of Commerce and is looking for ways to get more involved on a statewide scale.
“We had a reception for the federal law clerks a few weeks back in this office, just to get our name out in Federal Bar” she said. “There was a huge turnout. We’ll do something similar with the State Bar.”
It’s not so much an introduction — the key players have long been well known here — as it is an education about what these Baker Donelson offices bring to the state.
“This is a top‑tier law firm,” Patel said. “It is one of the top 10 health care law firms in the country. You get the local and regional New Jersey and Northeast presence, but you get the reach of a national firm. You get all the resources that go with that. And I think that’s a win for the clients as well.”
