JD Journal » Dreier LLP

Troutman Sanders Brings on Dreier IP Team

Erik Even — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:40:40 +0000

Troutman Sanders has hired five intellectual property lawyers from the defunct Dreier LLP.

The group is led by patent litigator Albert Jacobs Jr., and includes Gerard Diebner and Daniel Ladow; all three joins as of counsel. They bring two associates.

The five lawyers will form the nucleus of a new life sciences practice based in New York.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Troutman Sanders has offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, London, New York, Newark, Norfolk, Orange County, Raleigh, Richmond, San Diego, Shanghai, Tyson’s Corner, Virginia Beach and Washington, DC.

Dreier Survivors Create Sports & Entertainment Practice

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:10:38 +0000

A pair of ex-Dreier attorneys is joining Hiscock & Barclay to found a new Sports & Entertainment Practice Area.

Thomas I. Mandelbaum was co-chair of Dreier LLP’s Entertainment Practice Area. Monika A. Tashman also joins the new group.

They were previously both partners at Selverne, Mandelbaum & Mintz.

The new practice area will be co-chaired by Mandelbaum and another partner, Robert J. Lanza. Mandelbaum, Tashman and Lanza are all based in Hiscock & Barclay’s New York City office.

This multi-disciplinary practice group also includes former professional athletes Tim Green and Jerry Meehan.

Hiscock & Barclay LLP, listed as a “Top 250 Firm” by The National Law Journal, opened its New York City office in September, with six attorneys. The 210-lawyer firm also has offices in Albany, Boston, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Toronto and Washington, DC.

The firm was founded in 1855.

Fox Rothschild Hires Dreier Refugees

Erik Even — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:28:19 +0000

Fox Rothschild has hired the nine-lawyer Pastore Osterberg firm of Stamford, Connecticut, which was previously a Dreier LLC office.

The business litigation practice will be the 15th office for Phialdelphia’s Fox Rothschild.

Joe Pastore and Eric Osterberg, who handle securities, technology and intellectual property litigation, will serve as partners. Pastore will manage the office.

IN 2008 Fox Rothschild LLP was the ninth largest firm in Philadelphia, and the 103rd largest in the United States, according to the National Law Journal’s rankings.

Fox Rothschild now has 450 lawyers.

EpsteinBeckerGreen Expands Bankruptcy Team

Erik Even — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:55:13 +0000

EpsteinBeckerGreen has brought on seven bankruptcy and corporate reorganization lawyers from Dreier LLP.

The team is made up of Paul Traub, former co-chair of the Bankruptcy and Corporate Reorganization Practice; partners Steven E. Fox, Wendy G. Marcari and Maura I. Russell; and associates Brett J. Nizzo, Anthony B. Stumbo and Bradford Tobin.

The group will be based out of EpsteinBeckerGreen’s New York office.

The bankruptcy team was previously of the New York’s Traub, Bonacquist & Fox, LLP, where Paul Traub was a founding member and managing partner.

Founded in 1973, Epstein Becker & Green, PC has nearly 400 lawyers practicing in offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, San Francisco, Stamford and Washington DC.

Dreier Firm Faces Eviction

Erik Even — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:16:21 +0000

Save for a skeleton staff authorized to wind up the affairs of the now-bankrupt Dreier LLP, attorneys remaining at the firm’s midtown Manhattan offices must leave the premises by March 4th.

If the offices are not vacated by the agreed-upon date, the landlord, Hines 499 Park LLC, may “with the assistance of the United States Marshal” evict “all persons located within said premises.”

The agreement comes in the wake of an earlier motion by the landlord to compel the bankruptcy trustee to pay $2.1 million of “post-petition rent and other additional obligations under the Lease.”

Meanwhile, the firm’s founder and sole equity partner, Marc S. Dreier, who stands accused of defrauding investors of $400 million, remains under house arrest at his Lexington Avenue apartment, where he is being watched by private, armed security guards.

Former Dreier Partners Could Face Liability

Erik Even — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:41:45 +0000

The New York Law Journal has consulted with experts, and finds that lawyers who fled Dreier LLP as soon as they heard that founder Marc Dreier was arrested and indicted could face legal problems of their own:

The departed partners might be held liable for any of the firm’s debts, and also face disciplinary action for any missing escrow funds. Further, they might be asked to return income they received from clients for work on unfinished matters they took with them when they left the now-defunct firm…

“When law firms dissolve, the court wants one thing and one thing only. They want money put back in the estate to pay back the creditors,” especially when there are clients who have lost money, said an attorney who specializes in law firm ethics and professional responsibility who asked to remain unnamed.

“In connection with partners in law firms, the interplay between the limited liability statute and the bankruptcy law is not entirely clear so that any partner who was being held out to the public as a partner is under some risk of having liability,” he added.

Read the whole story.

Dreier Formally Indicted On Securities & Wire Fraud Charges

Erik Even — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:00:23 +0000

Everyone’s favorite lawyer Marc Dreier, founder of New York’s Dreier LLP, was indicted by a federal grand jury yesterday.

The indictment follows Dreier’s December 7th arrest on charges that he persuaded two hedge funds to give him more than $100 million by falsely claiming he was selling at a discount notes issued by a New York developer. Prosecutors later said investors’ losses exceeded $400 million, a figure repeated in the indictment.

“Dreier conspired to engage in securities and wire fraud,” acting US Attorney Lev Dassin said.

The indictment expands the number of charges against Dreier, says his scheme began in 2004, and identifies new crimes he allegedly committed. Among them were the embezzlement of client funds and the sale of fake promissory notes purportedly issued by a Canadian pension plan.

Dreier, 58, hasn’t formally responded to the charges, but with the indictment he’ll be required to enter a plea. Dreier’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, said his client wants to resolve the case with prosecutors.

A graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale College, Dreier is being held in prison after he was unable to post $20 million bail.

Dreier LLP, which had 250 lawyers and offices nationwide, filed for bankruptcy after its founder’s arrest.

Dreier also faces charges in Toronto, where he was arrested for impersonating a lawyer at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Dreier Stein Lawyers to Found New Snell & Wilmer Office

Erik Even — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:18:42 +0000

At least eight lawyers from Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George are joining Phoenix, Arizona’s Snell & Wilmer, to open the latter firm’s first Los Angeles office.

The group consists of partners Marshall Horowitz, Susan Grueneberg, Jason S. Kim and Henry S. David, so far. Four associates from Dreier Stein will also join the new office on February 1st.

The Los Angeles office is looking for new business lawyers, litigators and intellectual property attorneys.

The move is the latest involving Dreier Stein, the Santa Monica-based affiliate of Dreier LLP, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month after its founder, Marc Dreier, was charged with investment fraud.

Last week, a group of entertainment litigators joined Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi’s Los Angeles office; while name partner Larry Stein, along with a few other partners and associates, jumped to what is now Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor.

Another name partner, Bob Kahan, left with up to eight lawyers for what is now Eisner, Frank & Kahan.

Snell & Wilmer was founded in 1938 by Frank Snell Jr. and Mark Wilmer. The firm is the largest in the state of Arizona and the 99th largest in the US by number of lawyers, according to the National Law Journal’s 2007 statistics.

High-Profile Los Angeles Lawyers Leave Dreier

todd — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:58:07 +0000

Several lawyers from the high-profile firm, Dreier LLP, have recently departed from the firm, finding jobs elsewhere.

Lawyer to high profile basketball player Tony Parker, Stanton “Larry” Stein recently announced that he would be transferring to the Liner Yankelevits firm. Other high profile clients for Stein include X-Files star David Duchovny.

Along with Stein went his former partners: Michael Plonsker, Mark Passin, and Yakub Hazzard. Those three left for the Minneapolis-based firm Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi. They will bring three associates from the Minneapolis firm and establish a Los Angeles-based entertainment practice group.

The owner of the Dreier firm, Marc Dreier, is in jail in New York on charges of financial fraud. The case is set to close by the end of this month.

Dreier Stein’s Stein Jumps Ship; May Bring Others

Erik Even — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:41:31 +0000

Larry Stein, the name partner of Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, has joined Los Angeles’ Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif, where he will head the entertainment & media practice.

Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George is the Santa Monica-based affiliate of Dreier LLP, whose founder and managing partner, Marc Dreier, was charged with masterminding a $100 million investment fraud. Dreier LLP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December.

Recently 20 lawyers at Dreier Stein left for Browne Woods George.

Stein represents actors, directors and other talent professionals in the entertainment industry, including monkey twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and “actress” Hilary Duff.

Liner anticipates that Stein will hire up to three associates and three more partners from Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, in the next two days.

With the addition of Stein, and in another example of firm name bloat, the firm will become Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor.

Six from Dreier Land at Mintz Levin’s New York Office

Erik Even — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:00:13 +0000

Six Dreier LLP survivors have joined Boston’s Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo PC, in the New York office.

Richard H. Block, Andrew J. Bernstein and David R. Lagasse have joined the firm as members, while Jessica W. Catlow, David M. Katz and Gregory R. Bennett have joined as associates.

Dreier LLP was taken over by a receiver in December, after the arrest of founder Marc Dreier; the law firm filed for bankruptcy earlier this month. Former Dreier attorneys have gone to other firms or formed their own firms in the wake of the scandal.

Lagasse, Bernstein and Block all worked together at Pillsbury Winthrop before moving over to Dreier LLP, which turned out to be a great decision.

Wildman Harrold Lays Off “Approximately” 10 Attorneys [Update]

Erik Even — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:40:20 +0000

Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon has confirmed that the Chicago-based law firm has laid off “approximately” 10 attorneys. About half are non-equity partners and the rest are associates.

If anyone knows how you can lay off “approximately” 10 attorneys, please comment below. Approximately 1,000, that I get. Approximately 10? You’re not sure if it’s 9, or 11? Maybe it was 9.8 attorneys? What’s the exact margin of error here? Could someone at Wildman Harrold stick their head out of a cubicle and get an accurate count?

But I digress.

No one practice area was targeted, the firm said. The layoffs were part of a standard annual review process, although “obviously the current economic conditions bring heightened attention to these otherwise normal business processes.”

Seven attorneys will join the firm this month, including three new partners who formerly were with a California affiliate of New York City-based Dreier; and four new associates who will be arriving later in January.

UPDATE

We now know that Wildman fired five income partners and five associates.

Lawyer Appointed to Probe $38.5M Dreier Debt

Erik Even — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:20:20 +0000

Steven J. Reisman, a partner in New York’s Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, has been appointed to investigate allegations that Seattle’s 360networks and its creditors are owed up to $38.5 million in funds from the defunct Dreier LLP.

Reisman was appointed by Judge Allan L. Gropper of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. He will be assisted by other Curtis lawyers, including Lynn P. Harrison III, T. Barry Kingham and Jerrold Bregman.

The funds in question should have been in a Drier client escrow account. Dreier had accumulated the roughly $38.5 million in cash from prosecuting actions that it brought as counsel to the committee appointed under 360networks’ Chapter 11 plan. The funds were to be shared among the reorganized telecommunications company and its creditors pursuant to the plan.

Dreier LLP collapsed after Marc Dreier, the firm’s founder and managing partner, was arrested in Toronto in December for allegedly impersonating another lawyer. He was arrested again in New York upon his return on securities and wire fraud charges that prosecutors say may have cost investors $380 million.

Via The NLJ.

Merged Firm Escapes from Dreier Fiasco

Erik Even — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:17:48 +0000

About 20 lawyers at Dreier Stein Kahan Browne Woods George, the Santa Monica, California-based affiliate of Dreier LLP, are leaving to reconstitute Browne Woods George, a litigation boutique that merged with Dreier, Stein & Kahan one year ago.

Marc Dreier, founder and managing partner of New York’s Dreier LLP, was charged by federal prosecutors and the SEC with masterminding an investment fraud of more than $100 million.

Dreier is the only equity partner in Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, which was formed in 2007 and employs several prominent Los Angeles lawyers; entertainment lawyer Larry Stein; corporate attorney Robert Kahan; and Eric George, a business litigator and the son of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George.

The California firm’s partners sent a letter to Dreier last week, saying he breached their employment contract, which guaranteed a certain compensation for three years. The partners have a multimillion dollar arbitration claim filed against Dreier.

Browne Woods George also is in negotiations to recruit up to four class action lawyers from Dreier LLP to open a New York office.

About 35 lawyers remaining at Dreier, Stein, Kahan, Browne, Woods, George, including Stein and Kahan, are in talks with several firms to merge. Among the possible merger candidates are LA’s Liner Yankelevitz Sunshine & Regenstreif; Pittsburgh’s Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney; Boston’s Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo; New York’s Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel; and Atlanta’s Troutman Sanders.

The firm’s entertainment group and most of the corporate group are looking to stay together as part of a possible merger.

Via NLJ.

Former Dreier Office in Connecticut Becomes Temporary Firm

Erik Even — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:17:28 +0000

Refugees of disgraced firm Dreier LLP’s Stamford, Connecticut office have reformed as Pastore Osterberg LLC.

The co-founder of the former Dreier office, Joseph Pastore III, says the arrangement will be temporary, as he expects offers from other firms to pick up his stranded group.

Pastore Osterberg formed earlier this month, after Dreier headquarters alerted all remaining lawyers that the firm was no longer covered by liability insurance.

Pastore Osterberg, which like its predecessor focuses on business litigation, is servicing the same 100 clients as the Dreier office.

Pastore has one formal offer in hand from a national firm and said he expects “several more, given the discussions, before year end.”

He is trying to get a deal done by January or February, but added that the process is moving more slowly because there are several attorneys involved.

Pastore Osterberg currently employs nine full-time attorneys and five part-time attorneys from Dreier, along with three staff members. At its height, Dreier’s Stamford office housed nearly 20 attorneys, 13 of them full-timers, and nine staff members.

Eric Osterberg, who was of counsel at Dreier, is the other name partner.

Via Law.com.

Gursky & Crew Flee Dreier, Land at Olshan Grundman

Erik Even — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:31:45 +0000

Steven R. Gursky and lawyers from the Gursky Group are leaving Dreier LLP for New York’s Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky.

The Gursky Group was the trademark, copyright and unfair competition arm of the Dreier law firm.

Gursky is a real estate and intellectual property specialist, with a particular emphasis on anti-counterfeiting in the apparel industry.

Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig & Wolosky, a mid-size law firm with an office in midtown Manhattan, says the move will expand its intellectual property, litigation and real estate practices. The firm provides expertise in corporate and securities law, real estate, litigation and bankruptcy and creditors’ rights.

The founder of the New York-based Dreier firm, Marc S. Dreier, has been accused of scamming hedge funds and other investors out of $380 million.

Before joining Dreier, Gursky served as managing partner at Gursky & Partners.

Thacher Proffitt Is No More; Fourth Biglaw Collapse This Year

Erik Even — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:10:58 +0000

Thacher Proffitt & Wood, the 160-year-old New York-based law firm, will close forever. The subprime crisis slashed demand for its structured-finance practice, and more than half of its attorneys have left for a competitor.

Thacher Proffitt will wind down operations next year. Its planning committee failed to reach a merger agreement with an unidentified firm (known to be King & Spalding) over the past six months.

A group of about 100 Thacher Proffitt lawyers, including 40 partners, will join Chicago-based Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, bringing that firm’s total number of lawyers to about 800.

Thacher Profitt is the fourth major US law firm to announce plans to close this year. Thelen, a San Francisco firm that was, like Thacher Proffitt, focused on structured finance, has shut down. Heller Ehrman, a 118-year-old firm that once boasted about 700 lawyers, also collapsed. And New York-based Dreier filed for bankruptcy protection after its founder was jailed and accused of cheating investors out of more than $100 million.

Thacher Proffitt, which had about 195 lawyers before the departures, put up for sublease all five floors of its headquarters this year. In October, it closed its office in White Plains, New York.

Some Thacher Proffitt lawyers were hired by the US Treasury Department on December 10th, to assist in purchasing asset-backed securities under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The attorneys will be paid as much as $500,000 for the work.

Sonnenschein is also facing slowing demand for legal services. The firm has fired 62 lawyers and about 175 staff since May due to “tumult in the financial markets.” The new hires will double the size of the firm’s New York office.

Via Bloomberg.

Mark Dreier’s Mistakes May Devastate Firm [Video]

Erik Even — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:36:26 +0000

From LawCrossing.com:

Last week’s revelation of the sole equity partner at Dreier LLP scamming and scheming to obtain funds for the law firm will have widespread effects.

Marc Dreier has been arrested and charged in Canada for impersonating another person; was caught on tape confessing to a $100 million dollar scam to a government informant; and now an array of SEC filings allege that funds are missing from clients’ escrow accounts, according to the Wall Street Journal.

According to a declaration by the firm’s controller John Provenzano, millions of dollars owed to clients appeared to be missing from the firm’s accounts. Asked for comment Tuesday night, Dreier’s attorney, Gerald Shargel, told the Wall Street Journal that: “We’re considering our options and [we] will make our position known on Thursday with respect to the underlying issues.”

-JIllian Manning

Regan Sued By Dreier

Erik Even — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:30:05 +0000

We have good news and bad news for Judith Regan, the former celebrity biography publisher. The bad news is, she’s being sued by her former law firm for unpaid fees related to her wrongful termination suit against News Corporation.

The good news is, that law firm is Dreier LLP. Which as of this week, depending on your definition of “exist,” doesn’t.

Regan was the controversial publisher of her own imprint at HarperCollins called ReganBooks, which specialized in celebrity biographies. She triggered outrage when she unsuccessfully attempted to publish O.J. Simpson’s arguably non-fiction “If I Did It,” his version of the Brown/Goldman murders.

In December 2006, shortly after the Simpson debacle, Regan was fired for making allegedly anti-Semitic remarks. With Dreier LLP as counsel, she sued Harper’s parent corporation for wrongful termination, and reached a $10.75 million settlement with News Corp last January.

Now Dreier, which appears to be missing tens of million of dollars in clients’ escrow money, wants to recoup some of that cash by suing Regan over unpaid legal fees. With Dreier bleeding lawyers, maybe Marc Dreier can hire a prison lawyer to go after Ms. Regan.

Dreier-gate Day 4: Millions Missing From Dreier LLP Accounts

Erik Even — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:55:34 +0000

At the WSJ Law Blog:

A flurry of SEC filings, reviewed last night by the Wall Street Journal, reveal new allegations of [Dreier LLP founder Marc] Dreier’s recent activities, including allegations that funds are missing from clients’ escrow accounts. Here’s the WSJ story.

…

According to a declaration by the firm’s Controller John Provenzano, millions of dollars owed to clients appeared to be missing from the firm’s accounts.

Provenzano says that last week, Dreier called him multiple times from a Canadian jail (where Dreier was held on impersonation and fraud charges), begging Provenzano to wire $10 million of firm money to his personal account. Provenzano refused, but Dreier was able to get his bank to comply.

Provenzano also admitted that since 2005, Dreier has taken up to $40 million our of Dreier LLP accounts to buy art.

Also, from Dreier LLP partner Joel Chernov:

… because Dreier ran the firm by himself he was the only one who could access bank accounts to transfer or disburse money to rectify many of the financial problems. The December health insurance premiums have not been paid, the firm’s December rent is overdue and AT&T Inc. was set to terminate Blackberry service as of Tuesday. Chernov also says the quarterly premium for the firm’s malpractice insurance is four weeks’ overdue.

Chernov says requests are pouring in for the firm to return client funds held in escrow. But only Dreier can do so. “In addition, many Dreier LLP attorneys and staff have left the firm and it is my understanding that they have taken certain files with them.”

This post will be update as the situation develops.

Dreier Indicted in Federal Court (UPDATE)

admin — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:08:06 +0000

Federal prosecutors have charged Marc Dreier, founder of Manhattan’s Dreier LLP, with theft in connection with his alleged attempt to secure a loan by impersonating another lawyer in Toronto.

Dreier has retained celebrity lawyer Gerald Shargel, and is scheduled to appear at US District Court for the Southern District of New York today.

Dreier allegedly impersonated a lawyer for the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund during a meeting with an executive for Fortress Investment Group, using the other lawyer’s business card, which Dreier had received from the lawyer earlier that day.

Dreier was allegedly seeking money for a sham transaction.

He spent three nights in an Ontario jail before making bond and flying back to New York with Shargel. Federal authorities were waiting at the airport and arrested Dreier.

Shargel has represented several high-profile clients, including mob boss John Gotti, lawyers who allegedly bribed and threatened witnesses, and an elderly Texas oil man who scammed the UN’s oil-for-food program with Iraq.

UPDATE

From WSJ LawBlog:

The Criminal Charge: … Dreier was arrested late Sunday night, presumably upon his arrival back in New York, on charges stemming from a $100 million fraud against various hedge funds.

The SEC Suit: The SEC also filed suit against Dreier on Monday, alleging that he has been marketing and selling fake promissory notes to investors.

The Wachovia Suit: Wachovia Bank sued Dreier LLP and Marc Dreier (in addition to a handful of others) today, alleging that a credit revolver and term loan extended to the firm are in default, as of November 1, upon which the bank is owed some $12.7 million.

Dreier Holiday Party Cancelled After Name Partner Arrested

admin — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:36:04 +0000

Look’s like the staff of Dreier LLP will have to cancel their Towncars to the Waldorf Astoria tonight: the office holiday party is off. Why? Mark Dreier, the firm’s founder and managing partner, was reportedly arrested by Canadian authorities on financially related charges. Sources brought up Fortress Investment Group as having possible involvement and say that Dreier live the lifestyle of a billionaire tycoon.

Partners convened Wednesday and today in emergency meetings to discuss the firm’s uncertain future. Sources say law enforcement authorities have frozen some firm escrow accounts, leading people to question the Dreier Stein’s financial health. An inside source tells us that since 1996 the growth of Dreier Stein has been somewhat shaky and reckless after acquiring 250 associates with offices across 6 cities.