Here are just a few of the announcements that I’ve noticed lately about firms opening or closing an office in a particular city: Akin Gump to Open Beijing Office; Fulbright & Jaworski Opens Office in the Middle East; Freshfields Shuts Up Shop in Singapore; San Francisco’s Sedgwick Detert Opens Office in Austin; New York’s White & Case To Close Office in San Francisco.

If you are a cross-town competitor, you will of course have noticed the news and most likely will be aware of the buzz before it’s actually announced. But if your firm is, for instance, looking for another firm to partner with, in for instance, Minneapolis, or if your firm is exploring the possibilities of opening (or acquiring) an office in a particular city or region, there are several ways to do your research using the ALM Research Online database:

NLJ 250 This searchable spreadsheet product lists all branch offices for the 250 largest firms in the U.S., along with two years worth of data for: rankings by total lawyers, and lawyer demographics by title (equity/non-equity partners; associates other attorneys); and starting salary for first-year associates. The current spreadsheet is for the recently-released 2006 NLJ 250 survey report.

Laterals Report This is also a searchable spreadsheet product. The data includes the lawyer name, the organization and location the lawyer left, the organization and location the lawyer went to, the month and year.

Law Firm Reports If you have a particular firm in mind, the Law Firm Reports include the NLJ 250 demographics on a firm-wide basis for each year covered in a firm’s report (1-year, 3-year, and 5-year reports are available), along with a graph and table showing the demographics by office. In addition, all reports include the firm’s most recent press release headlines, many of them having to do with opening a new office, and many having to do with lateral hires in particular offices, as well as practices.