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Proskauer Opens Office in Beijing; Effort Underway Since 2008

rebneely — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:00:45 +0000

Global law firm Proskauer announced it has opened an office in Beijing. In so doing, the firm significantly expands its global capabilities and Asia practice.

The firm counts the office as its thirteenth, and it is located in the Chaoyang District of Beijing.

Joseph M. Leccese, Chairman of Proskauer was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “This marks the next step in our global strategy of serving the needs of our clients in the major financial markets of the world where they are located and doing business. It will allow us to continue to expand the work we are doing as our clients build their businesses in Asia, enabling them—and us—to capitalize on the full range of available opportunities.”

Yuval Tal, who heads the firm’s Asia Practice was quoted as saying: “We are excited to be able to support our fast-growing practice with an on-the-ground base in mainland China, where many of our clients are focusing their attention, time and money. With 20 fee earners in Asia, we can handle the most sophisticated inbound and outbound transactions.”

The opening of the office has been underway since 2008. At that time, the firm had expanded to Hong Kong, by adding two partners from the now defunct firm of Heller Ehrman, along with the relocation of Proskauer corporate partner Yuval Tal from New York. According to the November 10th amlawdaily.com article, “At Last, Proskauer Rose Opens Its Doors in Beijing”, Tal explained that obtaining the necessary license to open the office, via the Chinese government, was a lengthy process.

According to the amlawdaily.com article, Tal was quoted as saying: “Every transaction we do is multilingual. It very often involves at least two, if not three jurisdictions, and very often two or three legal systems. It’s a very, very exciting kind of practice.”

At first, five attorneys from the Hong Kong office will relocate to Beijing, according to Tal in the amlawdaily.com article. Tal will divide his time between the two cities. The two offices will concentrate their efforts on matters relating to private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and capital markets matters. Many of the clients are from the entertainment, sports, and lodging and gaming industries.

The Beijing office is the most recent opening for the firm. The move follows the firm’s expansion into London and São Paulo in 2007, and Chicago and Hong Kong in 2008.

Global law firm Proskauer Rose, founded in 1875, is one of the largest in the nation, with twelve offices and over 650 attorneys. The firm offers a wide range of services, and attorneys practice in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, real estate transactions, bankruptcy and reorganizations, taxation, litigation, trusts and estates, intellectual property, and labor and employment law. The range of clients served is diverse, and includes companies in the chemicals, entertainment, financial services, health care, hospitality, information technology, insurance, internet, manufacturing, media and communications, pharmaceuticals, real estate investment, sports, and transportation industries.

Winston & Strawn Expands in Asia

joshua — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:21:03 +0000

Winston & Strawn has opened offices in Beijing and Shanghai. In Beijing, the firm has hired Ge Xiangyang away from Bakey & McKenzie to head up its new office. The Shanghai office is the result of the Chinese Justice Ministry’s approval of Winston & Strawn’s take over of two offices from the collapsed firm Heller Ehrman.

Winston & Strawn’s managing partner, Thomas Fitzgerald, says “As the world market continues to rebound from last year’s downturn we see Asia, and China particularly, continuing to play an increasingly important role”. Currently the firm has 5 partners spread between the Beijing and Shanghai offices.

Winston and Strawn is an international law firm founded in Chicago with offices in 15 cities around the world. It is an industry leader in Pro Bono work and was one of the first major US firms to establish a written Pro Bono policy.

Perkins Coie Poaches IP Team from Proskauer Rose

Erik Even — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:17:20 +0000

Washington State’s Perkins Coie, which cut 12 attorneys and 26 staff in April, has hired seven intellectual property attorneys away from Proskauer Rose.

Proskauer Rose partners Colin Sandercock, Paul Booth, John Isacson and David Laub all worked together at Heller Ehrman before it dissolved. The join another 13 former Heller lawyers employed by Perkins Coie. They also bring with them three associates from Proskauer Rose.

Perkins Coie is an international law firm based in Seattle, Washington. The firm is ranked number 86 on the list of the world’s largest law firms by 2006 revenue and has been listed on the Fortune Magazine “100 Best Places to Work in America” for the past seven years

Heller Estate May Sue Covington Over Partner Poaching

Erik Even — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:48:20 +0000

The estate of Heller Ehrman, the San Francisco-based law firm that imploded spectacularly in November 2008, may sue Washington DC’s Covington & Burling, which hired 14 ex-Heller partners last September.

Heller contends that the partner defections contributed to the downfall of the firm, by causing banks to freeze firm accounts. The estate is suing Covington and the partners for breach of fiduciary duty.

Lovitt & Hannan is representing Heller Ehrman. It employs Heller dissolution committee member Jonathan Hayden.

The partners have replied that Heller had plenty of notice the group was moving to Covington.

Founded in San Francisco in 1890, Heller Ehrman LLP was an international law firm of more than 730 attorneys in 15 offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The firm dissolved in November 2008.

Former Heller Employees Sue Partners

Erik Even — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:42:39 +0000

Former employees of San Francisco’s defunct Heller Ehrman, which declared bankruptcy in December, are suing 179 former partners for $32 million.

The suit alleges that the firm’s shareholders failed to give the legally required 60 days notice of layoffs. They seek accrued vacation, severance cash, and penalties under the WARN Act.

The over 800 ex-employees are represented by Los Angeles-based litigation boutique Blum Collins.

Founded in San Francisco in 1890, Heller Ehrman LLP was an international law firm of more than 730 attorneys in 15 offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In September 2008, the firm encountered troubles after losing 15 intellectual property partners to Covington & Burling, which led to the collapse of merger talks with Mayer Brown. A total of 50 partners had left the firm in 2008. The firm dissolved in November 2008.

Court: Firm Can Sue Departing Partners

Erik Even — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 16:25:41 +0000

A California appeals court ruling from 1984 that a firm can sue a departing partner for profits lost from open cases.

Six partners who moved to Heller Ehrman from another dissolved firm, Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, are facing a lawsuit from the Brobeck estate. The complaint filed this week seeks profits from unfinished Brobeck business.

The ruling, Jewel v. Boxer, holds that a law firm can recover profits from open cases lost when a partner leaves. Heller’s creditors committee cited Jewel in a motion seeking permission to proceed against the firm’s ex-partners.

Thacher Wants Salary Advances Back

Erik Even — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:07:03 +0000

Dissolving Thacher Proffitt & Wood is pursuing its former first-year associates over money provided for bar expenses.

The firm’s dissolution committee and bank are going after the former associates for repayment of salary advances issued last year to cover their bar and start up expenses.

Omer “Jack” Williams, a former Thacher managing partner who chairs Thacher’s seven-member dissolution committee, says associates knew the money was a loan when they took it. “In the exit interviews, we made it clear we anticipated they would pay their loans back,” he said.

Perhaps when the associates joined the firm, they made it clear they expected to be employed so they could pay the money back.

Williams says the committee hasn’t taken any legal action to collect the loan balances and hasn’t discussed what it will do if associates don’t pay.

Thacher, which had nearly 200 lawyers firmwide, was forced into dissolution in December, before the new associates had a chance to fully repay the loans out of their salaries.

Latham & Watkins, which last week laid off 190 associates firmwide, will not seek to get back the bar stipend it paid associates.

DLA Piper also isn’t requiring recently laid-off associates to pay back salary advances.

Bankrupt Heller Ehrman also won’t pursue repayment.

Day Casebeer Cuts 20% of Lawyers

Erik Even — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:05:46 +0000

The Recorder takes a look at Cupertino, California intellectual property boutique Day Casebeer Madrid & Batchelder, which last fall cut seven associates, nearly 20% of the firm’s lawyers, and two staff. Today, the firm has 27 lawyers.

According to [partner Rusty] Day, those laid off were given two months’ severance and their end-of-the-year bonus, which amounts to about a month’s worth of salary.

Some of the associates were able to quickly land jobs at big firms, being much-desired IP litigators and also getting cut before the tsunami of layoffs in the last two months. (None of the first-years, who had just started, were laid off.)

People still wonder about the effect of the Qualcomm discovery debacle on the firm’s business. Five Day Casebeer lawyers — as well as one from Heller Ehrman — were sanctioned in January 2008, after client Qualcomm failed to turn over crucial documents in a patent fight with Broadcom. Although the sanctions were lifted last year to give the attorneys a chance to tell their side of the story to the court, the final outcome isn’t certain.

Via The Recorder.

Departing Heller Ehrman Partners Paid $7 Million

Erik Even — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:45:41 +0000

Bankrupt law firm Heller Ehrman paid out more than $7 million to 35 departing or retiring partners in 2008.

The departures led to the firm breaking a loan covenant and having its accounts frozen, which precipitated its collapse.

The document also shows who Heller’s creditors could target as they seek to be paid through Heller’s bankruptcy. Creditors can try to reclaim payments dating back as far as four years.

Thomas Willoughby of Felderstein Fitzgerald Willoughby & Pascuzzi, who represents the creditors, says he will be looking at any payments that were made when the estate was insolvent, or distributions that “led to it being insolvent.”

The majority of the distributions, $5.3 million, went to 13 lawyers who received all of their capital because of a “change of status or termination.” The highest distribution went to senior of counsel Douglas Schwab, who received $920,000. Schwab retired in 2008 and was at Heller for more than 35 years.

Dissolution committee member Paul Sugarman and received $513,000.

Some partners collected 25% of their investment in the firm, and 40 of them collectively left behind $8 million in capital. Lawrence Hobel is out the most cash, with $573,000 left behind.

To accumulate capital, Heller would withhold between 7 and 8.5% per year of each partner’s profits, and withholdings would stop after a maximum was reached. A partner reaching 65 and retiring or switching to senior status received all capital back.

Firms often take years to pay back capital contributions to partners who leave for other firms. In Heller’s case in 2008, partners were paid 25% of their capital upon departure, with the expectation that 25% a year would be distributed over the following three years. By June 1, however, the policy changed and partners who moved were told they would not begin to be paid until 2009.

Dechert Sees Revenues, Profits Down

Erik Even — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:49:29 +0000

Philadelphia’s Dechert has become the latest Am Law 100 firm to announce a decline in revenues and profits for 2008.

Profits per equity partner fell by 9% to $2.14 million. Gross revenue dipped 2% to $816 million.

The firm lost 30 attorneys in 2008, with a total of 892 lawyers. Revenue per lawyer rose slightly, hitting $915,000. Equity partnership fell 163 to 152.

The firm moved to reduce its cost base with layoffs in 2008 and early this year. In February 2008, the firm let go of 13 associates. That was followed in December by a reduction of 72 staff; the firm also said that 15 attorneys were under review in London. On February 12 of this year, another 19 lawyers were laid off.

The firm brought on a number of high-profile laterals in 2008 and added an office in Beijing. Former Heller Ehrman chairman Matthew Larrabee joined the San Francisco office shortly after Heller’s dissolution.

In 2006, Dechert was ranked 37th largest law firm in the world based on revenue. In 2007, the National Law Journal ranked the firm 25th largest in the United States based on number of attorneys.

Revenue, Profits Up at Sidley Austin

Erik Even — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:20:41 +0000

Chicago’s Sidley Austin saw revenue grow by 7% in 2008, while profits increased 4%.

The firm brought in $1.489 billion in revenue, up from $1.386 billion in 2007. Profits per equity partner reached $1.43 million.

The firm’s overall head count grew from 1,651 to 1,702, with revenue per lawyer also growing from $840,000 to $875,000. Equity partners remained static at 332, while the nonequity ranks increased from 294 to 310.

In October Sidley saved six partners from the collapsed Heller Ehrman. In March, the firm hired a six-partner private equity team from Chicago’s Schiff Hardin.

Sidley Austin LLP, formerly Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is one of the oldest law firms in the world. It is the sixth largest US-based corporate law firm with over 1,800 lawyers, and offices in 16 cities worldwide.

Update: Cohen Milstein Replaces Hausfeld with Two Partners

Erik Even — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:10:21 +0000

We reported last month that former Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld & Toll partner Michael Hausfeld was ousted from the firm.

Now The BLT reports that the renamed Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll has hired two new partners to replace Hausfeld.

[Cohen Milstein] added two partners who start today in its complex antitrust litigation practice. Kit Pierson will be joining the D.C. office, and Doug Richards will be the managing partner of the firm’s New York office…

Hausfeld was expelled from the firm back in November. The two sides are still involved in a dispute over cash and clients…

Pierson spent the past 11 years at Heller Ehrman in its Washington office and handled a “mixed bag” of cases representing defendants and plaintiffs…

Richards, who comes from plaintiffs class-action firm Pomerantz Haudek Block Grossman & Gross, says he finds working the plaintiffs side of cases “more enjoyable and more rewarding…”

Via The BLT.

Lateral Moves Are All the Rage

Erik Even — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:25:35 +0000

The WSJ Law Blog summarizes the findings in a report by The American Lawyer about the enormous rise in laterals over the last year. Overall, 2,509 partners moved laterally between Am Law 200 firms in 2008.

That’s a 4% increase over 2007, but doesn’t include year-end moves by refugees from Heller Ehrman, Thelen, and Thacher Profit.

At first blush, it makes no sense. Firms are firing lawyers and cutting costs at a record pace. And lateral partner hiring is a costly proposition. Typically, newbie partners take months of ramp-up time before they can turn a profit.

So what gives? How can there be so much hiring activity? Part of it can be chalked up to skittishness. Lawyers are scared of being one of the last on a sinking ship–and are eager to move to firms perceived strong enough to weather the storm. “Accidental laterals,” e.g., lawyers who have been pushed out of their firms, are also driving the spike in movement…

Is all of this partner movement good or bad for BigLaw? It’s good for the talent, allowing many partners to command big salary premiums on the open market. But it has also helped foster a cut-throat environment, with firms focused intensely on boosting profits so that they will be in the running for star partners.

From the WSJ comments:

It signals poor strategic planning and business acumen. We are looking at reactive, fear-based responses. This is in keeping with law firms hiring first year associates at $160k in the summer of 06 and firing them and others in the summer of 07. Executive Committees either need to go to Business School or hire CEOs with business and leadership training.

Via WSJ via AmLaw.

DLA Piper’s Ong to Head Up Eversheds Singapore

Erik Even — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:09:52 +0000

London’s Eversheds is opening of a new office in Singapore, and beginning work on developing a presence in Hong Kong.

The firm has recruited DLA Piper’s former Singapore managing partner Desmond Ong to head up the new operation. Ong, a corporate and litigation lawyer, quit as DLA’s Singapore chief last November.

The Singapore office will be Eversheds’ second office in Asia, after Shanghai. It will serve the markets in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Last year Eversheds hired former DLA Piper and Heller Ehrman Asia head Nick Seddon to lead the Hong Kong initiative.

Eversheds LLP has 40 offices in major cities across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. It also has business groups specializing in the needs of international organizations doing business in Africa, India, Japan and North America. The firm provides legal and business advice to private and public sector businesses and the finance community worldwide.

Bingham Sees Increased Profits, Revenue — Credits Downsizing

Erik Even — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:11:20 +0000

Bingham McCutchen saw both revenue and profits rise in 2008, the firm reports.

Gross revenue for the Boston-based firm totaled $767 million in 2008, a 3.2% increase over 2007; profits per partner went up 6.4% to $1.42 million.

The firm reports a 5.5% increase in revenue per lawyer, to $950,000; and a 6.7% increase in compensation for all partners, to $960,000.

Firm Chairman Jay Zimmerman points to the firm’s reduced head count, down 2.2% in 2008, as an important factor that contributed to this increase. The reduction allowed lawyers to maintain a high level of work, he said.

Bingham made several significant lateral hires in the second half of the year, beefing up its securities, antitrust and restructuring practices. The additions include securities lawyer Geoffrey Aranow, most recently the managing partner of Heller Ehrman’s Washington, DC, office; as well as restructuring partner Jeffrey Sabin from Schulte Roth & Zabel. The firm also brought on three antitrust partners from Clifford Chance in November.

Bingham McCutchen LLP is an international law firm with approximately 1,000 attorneys in 11 US offices and three international offices^.It represents clients in corporate litigation, cross-border restructurings and insolvencies, financing and securities, government affairs and a wide variety of corporate and technology transactions.

The law firm was named 41st best company to work for in 2008 by Fortune.

Nixon Peabody Hires China Practice Chair

Erik Even — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:30:44 +0000

Nixon Peabody has recruited as its China practice chair a former general counsel of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Henry Liu, who will be based in Nixon Peabody’s Manhattan office and travel frequently to China, served as the CSRC’s top lawyer from 1995 to 2000. He was instrumental in drafting China’s first national securities law in 1998.

Liu was most recently of counsel at now-defunct Heller Ehrman, which he joined in 2006. During his time at Heller, he also was a managing director of HankPacific Group, a banking and advisory firm focusing on China. Liu has also done investment banking stints at the former Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, which was absorbed by Credit Suisse.

Rochester, New York’s Nixon Peabody opened a Shanghai office in March 2008.

US Legal Market Lost 7000 Jobs in 2008

Erik Even — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:53:05 +0000

According to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the legal services industry in the United States shed some 7,000 jobs between December 2007 and December 2008.

The numbers include lawyers, paralegals, public relations specialists, secretaries and other positions; and reflect layoffs by firms nationwide over the last few months, and the dissolutions of Am Law 100 firms Heller Ehrman, Thelen, and Thacher Proffitt & Wood.

In all, 2.6 million US jobs were lost in 2008, the biggest fall in more than six decades.

But the number of legal services jobs actually increased in December by 1,300.

Heller Ehrman Files for Bankruptcy; Remaining Employees May Not Be Paid

Erik Even — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:47:48 +0000

What’s left of San Francisco’s Heller Ehrman, which dissolved in November, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Former Heller partner Peter Benvenutti said the firm filed not because it is out of money, but because its main two creditors, Bank of America and Citibank, have refused to renegotiate the terms of a $5.7 million debt.

Last week a judge ruled that the firm’s San Francisco landlord, 333 Bush Associates, was entitled to a $48 million writ of attachment. A portion of Heller’s assets were immediately frozen, and Bush Associates became a secured creditor, ahead of dozens of unsecured creditors waiting in line for their money.

Benvenutti says the firm is collecting money and expects to recover “tens of millions” in collections going forward. The firm has $3.7 million in cash, and expects to recover about $35 million in accounts receivable. The firm’s liabilities consist of the $5.7 million it owes to lenders, $10 million in other accounts payable and $4 million in taxes.

There are 54 employees left at Heller. The firm has no cash to pay them their regular salaries, and its main banks froze $6.5 million in the firm’s accounts upon learning that the firm might file for bankruptcy. The firm filed first-day motions with the court, asking to use cash collateral to pay the remaining employees, who have also been promised 100% retention bonuses in exchange for staying on.

The firm says it hopes to repay the bank lenders in the next three or four weeks.

Teams from Greenberg Traurig and Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones are bankruptcy co-counsel for Heller.

Heller Ehrman Buried in Lawsuits; May Be Forced Into Bankruptcy

Erik Even — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:30:15 +0000

A San Francisco landlord for Heller Ehrman won a court ruling earlier this month, that means bankruptcy is now likely for the defunct law firm.

The San Francisco Superior Court granted the landlord, 333 Bush Associates, a writ of attachment for $48 million. The move makes the landlord a secured creditor, freezes a portion of Heller’s assets for the landlord, and leaves other unsecured creditors at a disadvantage, essentially waiting in line behind the landlord for dibs on leftover assets.

If within 90 days Heller files for bankruptcy, or if three of its creditors force it into bankruptcy, then the writ is automatically stayed. That would make the landlord an unsecured creditor once more, and put all unsecured creditors on an equal footing.

Peter Benvenutti, a member of Heller’s dissolution committee and now a partner at Jones Day, said negotiations are continuing with the landlord.

Bush Associates sued Heller for $85 million on December 4th. It’s one of several suits filed against the defunct firm.

The firm’s Washington, DC landlord sued for $31 million in late October. Document management service Williams Lea sued last week for $3 million, which includes the cost of severance pay to employees. At least two lawsuits have been filed by former employees seeking lost wages, severance and vacation pay under state and federal WARN Act violations.

Three creditors can force a debtor into bankruptcy if the debtor has at least 12 creditors, and the three are owed more than $13,475. Heller has dozens of such creditors.

Via The Recorder.

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.

Many from Heller, Thelen Remain Jobless

Erik Even — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:40:24 +0000

After the dissolution of Heller Ehrman and Thelen LLP, hundreds of attorneys were left without work.

Now, months later, many are still unemployed, even after some of the nation’s largest firms hired entire departments.

Most of the unemployed from both firms are in New York, Washington, and San Francisco.

Heller had 550 lawyers when it officially dissolved on September 26th.

About 130 of Thelen’s 400 lawyers continue to associate themselves with the firm, and 81 lawyers from Heller still have not found new employment.

Given the continually declining economy and an over-saturation of out-of-work attorneys, those Heller and Thelen lawyers still seeking new positions are looking “to snag government jobs, start their own firms, join small boutiques or relocate.”

Via National Law Journal.

Gallaudet’s Mock Trial Program Helps Bridge Gaps between Hearing, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing Communities

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:24:53 +0000

Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, is the only university in the world at which all classes are designed to accommodate deaf and hard-of-hearing students seeking advanced education. In 2002, the school began working with the DC office of Heller Ehrman to establish the mock trial program.

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