Thelen's Former Chair: 'No Firm has to Fail'
Thelen’s former chairman agrees with several observers that a 2006 merger contributed to the firm’s downward spiral, but he also identifies another problem: a lack of strong leadership.
Richard Gary led Thelen from 1992 to 2003 and is now a legal consultant. He spoke to the Daily Journal (sub. req.) about the problems that led Thelen’s partnership council to recommend yesterday that the firm dissolve by Dec. 1.
Several observers told the Daily Journal that the 2006 merger failed between Thelen Reid & Priest and Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. Thelen became bogged down in Brown Raysman’s debt, and Thelen’s marquee construction group did not meld well with Brown Raysman’s technology and finance practices, according to the story.
Gary agrees with that assessment and says another problem appears to be a lack of strong leadership. “I believe that with strong leadership and a core group of partners committed to saving the firm because they want to practice law together, that no firm has to fail,” Gary told the Daily Journal.
“There will always be partner defections … that happens,” Gary told the publication. “But what happened at Thelen and Heller is that the partner defections just snowballed. At some point, you just lose the firm’s center of gravity. You lose so many strong partners that there is not enough of a core group to keep the firm together.”
The center may not hold at other law firms as well. One California recruiter told the Daily Journal that Thelen and Heller Ehrman won’t be the only law firms to dissolve. “Next year will be worse,” the recruiter said.
