The Dewey Dozen: Capital Sufficiency and Survival

When news first broke about troubles at Dewey LeBoeuf, I wondered whether problems like Dewey’s are an outlier or representative of broader trends. Then, I explored the long-term trends that are likely to lead to more Deweys. In this third piece, I want to describe what happens in the very…

Apr 3, 2012 9:20 PM CDT

Hinshaw Adds Rockford, Ill., Law Partners and Consulting Firm They Built, Plans National Rollout

A Chicago-based national law firm has acquired both a small law firm in Rockford, Ill., and the cross-disciplinary legal and business consulting firm they built. Hinshaw & Culbertson will combine the Buckley Cos. into its newly formed consulting subsidiary, which it plans to market throughout the country, the Rockford Register…

Apr 3, 2012 8:52 PM CDT

4-Lawyer M&A Team Exits Dewey for DLA Piper; Leader Will Co-Chair US Finance Practice There

Updated: A four-lawyer mergers and acquisitions team is exiting Dewey & LeBoeuf for megafirm DLA Piper, bringing to 40 the number of partners known to have left Dewey since the beginning of 2012. The team, which practiced in Dewey’s office in New York, joined DLA Piper on Tuesday and is…

Apr 3, 2012 6:34 PM CDT

A Year After Fla. Foreclosure King’s Law Firm Collapsed, Many Cases are Still Sputtering or Stalled

A year after an attorney known as Florida’s foreclosure king closed his once-mighty law firm, many of the 100,000 cases he reportedly abandoned are still sputtering their way through the legal system or even stalled entirely. Meanwhile, David J. Stern remains licensed and in good standing. His attorney says he…

Apr 2, 2012 4:53 PM CDT

South of the Border: Jenner & Block Chairman Plants Firm’s Flag at the South Pole

Apr 1, 2012 9:30 AM CDT

4-Lawyer Pryor Cashman Team Leaps to Perkins Coie, Which Plans Further Expansion of NY Office

A four-lawyer financial transactions and restructuring team from Pryor Cashman led by partner Ronald Sarubbi is moving to Perkins Coie, where Sarubbi will head the corporate trust practice. The move, which brings the total attorney roster in the firm’s New York office to 15, is part of a plan for…

Mar 30, 2012 4:43 PM CDT

Fried Frank Wins Dismissal of Age Bias Suit by Laid-Off Secretary

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has won dismissal of a lawsuit that claimed the law firm discriminated against older secretaries in 2008 layoffs. U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts of Manhattan granted a motion to dismiss, tossing the suit by Judith Cuttler, the Am Law Daily reports. Cuttler, who was…

Mar 29, 2012 1:19 PM CDT

The $60-Per-Hour Lawyer—Why Dewey Isn’t Ab-Normal

When structural change happens, we like to look for individual agency – find someone who made a mistake and blame them. But Dewey’s problems are more indicative of basic changes happening in law (driven by the broader world) than they are unique boo-boos by Dewey. The best description of the…

Mar 28, 2012 2:05 PM CDT

Dewey or Don’t We: Abnormal or New Normal?

The continuing revelations about uncertain accounting and significant partner defections at Dewey & LeBoeuf, have me mulling whether the problems at Dewey are unique or emblematic of broader trends. Back in the day, coal miners would take canaries into the mine because the birds were more sensitive to build-up of…

Mar 27, 2012 1:29 PM CDT

Dewey Creates Chairman’s Office with Five Members; Leaked Letter Cites Revenue Jump

Dewey & LeBoeuf chairman Steven Davis will no longer be leading the law firm by himself. Davis will be moving to London, and four other lawyers will join him as co-equal members of the chairman’s office, Bloomberg News reports. Bloomberg obtained a letter outlining the changes. The new co-chairman’s office…

Mar 27, 2012 11:28 AM CDT

Allen & Overy and Singapore’s Biggest Law Firm, Allen & Gledhill, Call Off Merger Talks

A renowned London-based international legal partnership and the law firm with the largest attorney roster in Singapore have called off their merger talks. Saying that they wish to pursue different directions, Allen & Overy and Allen & Gledhill confirmed that they had amicably ended their discussions, reports Bloomberg. “We will…

Mar 26, 2012 9:57 PM CDT

How Latham’s Opening of a Chicago Office in 1982 Launched a Megafirm

At the beginning of 1982, what is now one of the world’s biggest and best-known law firms effectively didn’t exist on the roster of the nation’s BigLaw firms. Latham & Watkins had 126 attorneys, all but 12 of them in California. Its only outpost outside the state was in Washington,…

Mar 26, 2012 9:21 PM CDT

Another Dewey Leader to Depart, Says Desire to Leave BigLaw, Not Firm Finances, Prompted His Exit

The managing partner of the Houston office of Dewey & LeBoeuf has announced he plans to leave, with three associates, for another law firm, bringing to 37 the total number of Dewey partners who have exited or are about to, in the first three months of 2012. But Sean Gorman,…

Mar 26, 2012 6:35 PM CDT

6 More Dewey & LeBoeuf Partners Plan to Exit, Including Insurance Practice Leaders

Six more partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf have announced their planned exit. They include James Dwyer, who is in charge of the firm’s Chicago office; John Pruitt and Cynthia Shoss, who jointly run the firm’s insurance regulatory department; Jeffrey Mace, who oversees the Lloyd’s of London practice; and two tax…

Mar 23, 2012 9:08 PM CDT

Eversheds Makes In-House Contract Lawyer Team Permanent as Expected 15-Attorney Roster Nears 80

An experimental in-house contract lawyer service at a major United Kingdom-based law firm has gotten off to a bigger start than expected and has been made permanent a little over halfway into a one-year pilot program. Eversheds now has almost 80 contract lawyers available to clients through Eversheds Agile, Legal…

Mar 23, 2012 7:06 PM CDT