70 WolfBlock Lawyers Find New Homes
As the dust settles from the implosion of WolfBlock last week, more than one third of the 290 lawyers in the Philadelphia-based partnership have already found new homes.
Among the latest announcements, a 67-attorney New Jersey contingent of the dissolving Philadephia-based firm has decided to hang out its own shingle. And David Gitlin, who chaired WolfBlock’s corporate securities practice, is headed to Blank Rome along with two New York associates, reports the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Unlike other WolfBlock practices, the corporate and securities group is splitting up between a number of different firms, says Gitlin, who describes the death throes of his now-former firm as the worst experience in his life.
“I’ve spent the past four months trying to keep WolfBlock together,” he tells the business publication. “It’s been devastating to see such an institution where I had practiced for 28 years dissolve. But I am excited about what the future brings at Blank Rome.”
For WolfBlock’s office in Roseland, N.J., hanging out a new shingle won’t involve as much of a change. Many of the 67 lawyers there remember when it was part of Brach Eichler Rosenberg Silver Bernstein Hammer & Gladstone, prior to a 2003 merger with WolfBlock. Partner John Fanburg, who heads the Roseland office, said yesterday that his group plans to continue to practice as a new firm, at least for now, while it evaluates its options.
In earlier moves, 30 WolfBlock lawyers have joined Cozen O’Connor, and the firm’s Wilmington, Del., office has essentially moved to Drinker Biddle.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Why WolfBlock Didn’t Merge to Survive”
ABAJournal.com: “Did WolfBlock Infighting Lead to its Demise?”
New Jersey Law Journal: “New Jersey Branch of Wolf Block Hopes to Survive Firm’s Implosion”
