Manatt Phelps sues Brown Rudnick for share of contingency in former partner's case
Manatt Phelps & Phillips claims that it is entitled to share in a $10 million settlement in a case handled by a former partner who jumped to Brown Rudnick.
Manatt Phelps sued earlier this month in Washington, D.C., Superior Court, the National Law Journal reports.
The suit claims that former client Rudolph Geist and his company, RJGLaw, had agreed to pay Manatt a contingency fee of 30 percent. When partner Benjamin Chew left Manatt in April 2018 for Brown Rudnick, he took his representation of Geist with him.
The case settled for $10 million in November. Nothing was paid to Manatt Phelps, although it won a key ruling in March that allowed the case to proceed, the suit says.
“Mr. Geist, a lawyer, knows that legal services are not provided for free,” the suit says.
