Coast Guard Suspends Search for Missing Irell & Manella Partner
Updated: The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for an Irell & Manella partner whose sailboat ran aground Sunday at Venice Beach in California.
The lawyer, Tom Kirschbaum, was sailing Sunday from Santa Catalina Island after a sailboat race at a time of high winds and surf, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was an experienced sailor who had previously sailed in a race to Hawaii, according to the Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.
A cell phone and a GPS device were on the grounded boat.
The Irell & Manella website says Kirschbaum has more than 25 years of experience in drafting employee benefit plans.
The law firm issued a statement expressing sorrow over the apparent accident. “Tom was a first-rate human being,” the statement said. “He was widely recognized as one of California’s leading employee benefits attorneys and scholars. Tom was also a world-class sailor with a passion for solo sailing. In 2008, he successfully competed in the Singlehanded Transpac Race, a grueling 2,120-mile race from San Francisco to Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Tom quipped at the time he was glad to show the world that lawyers ‘were not monomaniacs whose recreation consisted of memorizing the regulations under Internal Revenue Code Section 409A.’ Our thoughts and prayers are with Tom’s family and friends at this difficult time.”
Updated coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Body of Missing Irell & Manella Partner Is Found”
Updated at 6:45 p.m. to include the statement from Irell & Manella. Updated on May 27 to link to new coverage.
