After Faltering Profits and Lawyer Reductions, O'Melveny Sees Bright Future with New Chairman
A storied law firm with a 126-year history has struggled a bit in recent years, seeing its profits and attorney roster shrink—although revenue per lawyer at O’Melveny & Myers is up substantially and the firm says it is now on track for its best year ever.
Now, in little more than a month, Bradley Butwin, 51, will replace the firm’s longtime chairman, Arthur “A.B.” Culvahouse Jr., the American Lawyer reports.
He portrays the exit of more than 100 equity and nonequity partners since 2007 (around 35 of them this year) as a positive—calling the situation “an opportunity” and saying that the firm now has “a greater sense of unity … because everyone who’s here now has a high degree of confidence in the firm.”
And although Butwin is the chair of the firm’s litigation department, he is looking to expand both it and O’Melveny’s corporate practice by leveraging its existing client relationships and attorney expertise to “focus on practices that tie into one another” rather than simply looking to bring in individual rainmakers, the legal magazine reports in a lengthy article.
One thing he doesn’t see as an option is a merger. Instead, he says, the firm will seek to expand already strong areas on the corporate side, including its entertainment practice, Silicon Valley clientele and Asia practice.
Litigation-side relationships will help O’Melveny bring in more transactional work, and alternative fee arrangements are boosting the number of big corporate cases for its litigation department, the article explains.
Flexible fee arrangements are viewed by Butwin and other key partners as key to the success of the firm’s U.S. and Asia offices, one of a number of areas in which the new chair is respected and in tune with those he leads.
“Flexibility with fee arrangements is critical in Asia,” says Bertie Mehigan, who joined the firm from White & Case not long ago to colaunch its Singapore office. “That has always been a part of our struggle, but at O’Melveny this is something senior management understands and accepts.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “22 Partners Have Left O’Melveny in 2011; Some Exits Create ‘Growth Opportunities,’ Firm Says”
ABAJournal.com: “O’Melveny Moves Up Leadership Vote; Defections Continue with A&O Acquisition”
ABAJournal.com: “O’Melveny Litigation Chief to Become Firm’s Next Chairman”
ABAJournal.com: “O’Melveny Lays Off About 75 Staffers, Transfers Some Work to Outsourcing Firm”
