Summary: Hundreds of attorneys and staff were suddenly without jobs when their employer, law firm Butler & Hosch made the announcement four days ago that it was closing.
The law firm Butler & Hosch made a sudden announcement to employees on May 14 through an internal memo that the firm was closing. An attorney familiar with the firm said there are around 30 lawyers and 100 staff working in the Florida offices now out of a job. The firm had an office in Texas and several other states as well.
Butler & Hosch worked primarily on foreclosure, bankruptcy, title disputes and other real estate matters by representing mortgage lenders and servicers. They were handling up to 60,000 foreclosure cases nationwide when they closed. The firm is currently trying to get their debts in order in a state court civil case that is similar to bankruptcy, known as an “assignment for the benefit of creditors”.
Attorney Roy Kobert of GrayRobinson in Orlando is representing the firm in all legal matters. An outside manger, Michael Moecker, has been called to put the firm’s financial affairs in order.
Business in the foreclosure industry took off during the recession but offices like Butler & Hosch have struggled since the foreclosure rate has decreased. Butler & Hosch tried to acquire other firms in the last year as an attempt to address the slowed business.
One of the firm’s founders and CEO, Bob Hosch, blames the attempted expansion for the ultimate failure of the firm. He stated in his final memo to employees that “BH grew too fast and could not merge processes from the acquired entities quickly enough to meet our economic forecasts”.
The firm sought other forms of funding without success. The final memo to employees also noted that there was not enough cash on hand to fund payroll for the week and thanked the employees for their support and loyalty.
Photo: business.glbtchamber.org