(Reuters) - Big Law's California gold rush continued on Thursday as Husch Blackwell, a Missouri-based firm, announced it is opening offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area with a 21-lawyer team it swiped from Dentons.

The hires include Los Angeles-based partners Bradford DeJardin, Frederic Norris, Kelvin Wyles, and Jules Zeman; and Bay Area partners Lisa Oberg, Lynne Patricia Blair, Michelle Jackson, Jennifer Lee, Michael Sandgren and Christopher Wood. Eleven counsel and associates are also making the move from Dentons. Some lawyers will work remotely full-time, Husch Blackwell said.

Husch is at least the fifth law firm to enter the Bay Area's legal market in the past year. Some of the tech hub's largest companies - like Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook Inc - thrived in 2020 while the coronavirus pandemic upended other sectors. Meanwhile, rents in the region have dropped, reducing the cost of opening an office.

Husch Blackwell already has an office in Sacramento, California's capital. Its website lists five lawyers in that office.

"We always viewed our Sacramento office as a prelude to further expansion in California," Husch Blackwell chair Catherine Hanaway said in a statement.

She was not immediately available for an interview.

Husch Blackwell Chief Executive Paul Eberle said the growth was attractive as "California is often a bellwether state in terms of the regulation of private business" and it "is vital to so many of our clients."

Several of the partners joining Husch Blackwell, including Oberg, who co-chaired Dentons' products liability practice group and led its complex torts division, joined Dentons in 2015 when it merged with McKenna, Long & Aldrige.

Dentons, the largest law firm in the world and one that has targeted mergers with regional U.S. law firms in recent years, thanked the departing team for their "contributions from their toxic torts case portfolio."

"As Dentons continues to evolve and grow our robust products liability practice, we agree and fully support that this move makes sense for this tight-knit team," the firm said. "We wish them and their new firm all the best."

Oberg said in the Husch Blackwell announcement that her team "reached a comfort level quickly" with the firm and its technology, manufacturing and transportation industry group head Joseph Orlet, who is based in St. Louis.

"Not all firms are configured in a way that makes sense for our practice, but Husch Blackwell's platform is perfectly suited to us and our clients, especially in terms of putting the focus where it belongs: helping clients manage the potential liabilities associated with tort claims in the most efficient manner possible," Oberg said. "We are excited and honored to be the tip of the spear for the firm's California expansion plans."

Husch Blackwell has over 700 lawyers total, according to its website. It has offices in nearly 20 U.S. cities, mostly in the Midwest and South.