Dewey Creates Chairman's Office with Five Members; Leaked Letter Cites Revenue Jump
Dewey & LeBoeuf chairman Steven Davis will no longer be leading the law firm by himself.
Davis will be moving to London, and four other lawyers will join him as co-equal members of the chairman’s office, Bloomberg News reports.
Bloomberg obtained a letter outlining the changes. The new co-chairman’s office includes leaders of the firm’s most profitable groups, the story says. They are restructuring chief Martin Bienenstock, corporate leader Rich Shutran, litigation head Jeffrey Kessler, and legislative and public policy chief Charles Landgraf.
The firm has been in the news for lawyer departures, including the managing partner of its Houston office and six insurance partners.
Shutran told Bloomberg the five-member team was created in response to “internal requests for more hands-on management.” He said the departure of the insurance group had no impact on profitability because the group was “break-even at best.”
The letter says revenue for the first two months of the year jumped 28 percent from the prior year.
Dewey spokesman Angelo Kakolyris told the Daily Journal (sub. req.) in a story published on Friday that the firm has had the best financial year since the 2007 merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae. The problem, he said, is collections. “We have … so many outstanding collections,” he told the Daily Journal. “If we were paid everything we were due today, there would be no problem.”
Story updated at 9:45 a.m. to correct pronoun.
