http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/05_-_May/More_Dewey_rainmakers_leave_for_other_firms/
Last night, when we reported the news of secretarial staff layoffs atDewey & LeBoeuf, we mentioned a prediction of additional layoffs today — i.e., Tuesday — or later in the week. That prediction has already come to pass — like so many predictions about Dewey, sadly.
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/05/dewey-have-an-end-in-sight-friday-will-be-the-last-day-for-some-employees/#more-156784
On Friday, we broke the news of Dewey & LeBoeuf issuing a WARN Act notice to its U.S. employees. As explained by the U.S. Department of Labor, the WARN law generally requires an employer “to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.”
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/ex-vice-chairman-at-dewey-is-said-to-claim-that-he-is-owed-61-million/
Dewey & LeBoeufMorton A. Pierce had been a vice chairman at Dewey.
More Dewey rainmakers leave for other firms
5/8/2012COMMENTS (0)
May 8 (Reuters) - More top rainmakers at law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf decamped for new homes on Tuesday, days after the firm warned employees that it may go out of business.
Dewey, once one of the biggest U.S. law firms, has lost roughly 150 of its 300 partners since the start of the year. The departures came amid a debt crisis, concerns about partner compensation and a criminal probe into former Dewey Chairman Steven Davis.
The latest departures included five partners led by Richard Climan, a prominent mergers and acquisitions partner in Silicon Valley. Weil, Gotshal & Manges said it had hired Climan's team.
Ten partners from Dewey joined DLA Piper, including New York dealmaker Berge Setrakian, and Joseph Tato, the chair of Dewey's global project finance and infrastructure finance group. DLA Piper said it also is hiring Joseph Lavelle, a patent litigator in Washington.
Two real estate partners, Gordon Davis and Suzanne St. Pierre, left Dewey for Venable. Venable will also add Peter Britell, a former chair of Dewey's global real estate and construction practice, as a partner.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld said it had hired three energy partners from Dewey's London and Houston offices, including John LaMaster, chair of Dewey's global oil and gas industry sector group.
Another five energy partners will separately join Bracewell & Giuliani. They include John Klauberg, the co-head of Dewey's utilities, power and pipelines global industry sector group, and Catherine McCarthy, who co-headed Dewey's energy regulatory department.
Last week, Dewey & LeBoeuf's management sent a memo to partners encouraging them to find other jobs and, on Friday, the firm warned employees that it may close.
Other partners who announced moves on Tuesday included Jonathan DeSantis, a capital markets partner who joined Shearman & Sterling; James Carter, an international arbitration lawyer who joined Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr as special counsel; and Simon Briggs, who joined Dechert's corporate and securities practice in London.
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius separately confirmed previous reports that it would hire 10 partners from Dewey's London, Moscow and Almaty offices.
The moves are coups for the various firms that hired the lawyers from Dewey. Setrakian and Tato's groups alone are expected to generate $40 million to $50 million in business a year for DLA Piper, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Climan is well-known in M&A circles. He advised Illumina in defending against Roche's $6 billion hostile takeover bid earlier this year. He also regularly counsels Dell in deals, including the $1 billion acquisition of Compellent Technologies, announced in December 2010.
Weil Gotshal beat other several other firms in hiring Climan's group. Other firms that had talks with Climan included Freshfields and Kirkland & Ellis, according to a person close to the discussions.
How much the partners will be paid at their new firms is unclear. Climan earned a guaranteed $3.5 million a year after joining Dewey in 2009 from Cooley, where he was firm-wide head of its mergers practice, according to the Recorder, a California legal publication. Setrakian meanwhile had for at least a time earned $3 million after joining Dewey predecessor firm LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae from Winston & Strawn in 2005, the American Lawyer reported at the time.
Climan declined to discuss his pay. Setrakian was not available to comment.
Former partners have cited Dewey's practice of awarding guaranteed pay to some partners but not others as a reason behind the firm's troubles. More than 100 of the firm's 300 partners had guarantees, a number that wasn't known until an October meeting, according to two former partners. Partners who did not have guaranteed pay deals meanwhile saw their compensation shrink during the recession.
Roger Meltzer, the chair of DLA Piper's corporate and finance practice, declined to discuss how much his firm was paying partners it recruited from Dewey.
"On a general basis, it's a fair economic transaction for them and us," he said.
Duncan Miller, a spokesman for Dewey, declined to comment on the departures.
and....
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/05/dewey-know-when-leboeuf-is-cooked-when-associates-are-laid-off-en-masse/
Last night, when we reported the news of secretarial staff layoffs atDewey & LeBoeuf, we mentioned a prediction of additional layoffs today — i.e., Tuesday — or later in the week. That prediction has already come to pass — like so many predictions about Dewey, sadly.
Last night, they came for the secretaries. This time, they’ve come for the associates….
“I’m sure you heard that D&L associates are being terminated en masse,” said one source. “Last day for NYC associates is Tuesday the 15th. Get paid out through the 15th and medical benefits through the end of the month. No severance.”
These terms shouldn’t come as a surprise. The same deal was given to the victims of yesterday’s mass layoffs.
“Can you provide a list of the top WARN act attorneys?” asked this tipster.
Above the Law readers: feel free to mention leading WARN Act lawyers, in the comments. One lawyer who does WARN work — Jack Raisner, a partner at Outten & Golden — was quoted in a recent Am Law Daily storyabout Dewey.
A second source told us that the latest cuts hit litigators especially hard: “All the litigation associates were just called to the main conference room and told we were being let go. Benefits until the end of the month, but May 15th paycheck will be the last one, and building access gets cut off that day.”
UPDATE (3:45 PM): By the way, note that date: Tuesday, May 15th. As you may recall, May 15 is the date that prior rumors pegged as Dewey’s shutdown date (even though the firm denied the rumors at the time).
More such meetings are on the way, according to the WSJ Law Blog, which first reported on today’s reductions:
At a Tuesday afternoon meeting in a multi-purpose room at the firm, one group of associates were told that next Tuesday would be their last day, according to a Dewey lawyer in attendance. More meetings with groups of associates were set for later in the afternoon, according to the lawyer….For many associates, Tuesday’s meeting was the first real communication regarding their fate even as scores of partners have left and basic law firm functions were cut off, including mailroom services and cars to ferry attorneys home after late nights at the office.“We are pretty happy to have some closure instead of this drip torture,” one associate said.Closure at last. That is one fairly positive way of receiving today’s news, which was “expected by most,” according to one of our sources.A Dewey tipster who will be out of a job next week shared this reaction to the news with us:I just wanted to thank you for keeping up coverage of all this. I think it’s helped some of us to know that eventually, we’ll hear the entire story. Some partners have been atrocious human beings — including telling their associates for years that they were forbidden to work on anyone else’s matters, but then abandoning those same associates to a sinking ship without so much as a “thank you for your hard work” — but some others have been entirely decent, working overtime to find soft-ish landings for left-behind associates.LeBoeuf is cooked, it seems.It’s during times of crisis that people show their true colors. When the full story of Dewey is eventually told, there will be heroes, and there will be villains.
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/05/dewey-have-an-end-in-sight-friday-will-be-the-last-day-for-some-employees/#more-156784
On Friday, we broke the news of Dewey & LeBoeuf issuing a WARN Act notice to its U.S. employees. As explained by the U.S. Department of Labor, the WARN law generally requires an employer “to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.”
We noted, however, that employees shouldn’t be lulled into complacency by the 60-day requirement. As Elie wrote, “Dewey employees shouldn’t expect to just show up to work every day until Independence Day. Remember, we’ve learned from the Heller dissolution and other firms’ dissolutions that things tend to happen very quickly.”
Very quickly indeed. We are now hearing reports that this Friday, May 11, will be the last day for an unknown number of D&L employees….
As usual with the fast-moving Dewey story, we have multiple UPDATES, after the jump.
“I’m a D&L secretary,” said a source. “We were notified at 4:15 p.m. that Friday is our last day. We will be paid through the 15th and will have health insurance until the end of the month. Unused vacation time will also be paid out.”
We don’t have much more than that at the current time. We don’t know how many or what type of employees received this notification. If you can provide us with additional information, please email us or text us (646-820-8477; not a voice line, text messages only). We will update this post with information that we receive.
UPDATE (9:30 PM): One source informed us that at least 90 percent of Dewey’s secretaries in New York were told that Friday would be their last day. They were notified in two meetings, at 4:15 p.m. and at 5:00 p.m. Some employees in financial departments such as accounts payable were also laid off. Additional layoffs are anticipated tomorrow or later in the week. (The staff layoffs are mentioned in this DealBook story on the latest Dewey developments.)
Could employees terminated as of Friday have claims under the WARN Act? Quite possibly. As reported on Friday by Am Law Daily:
[T]he so-called WARN notice sent to employees Friday may not be enough to protect the company from liability, according to attorney Jack Raisner, who specializes in WARN Act work. Raisner, a partner at Outten & Golden, said via e-mail Friday that in his opinion, it would provide “weak insulation” for the firm if it terminates employees before the required 60- or 90-day window closes. “It arguably does not constitute conditional notice, nor preserve the exemptions that excuse shortened notice,” Raisner said.
Current employees of Dewey aren’t the only ones who are suffering. The Dewey debacle continues to affect people from many walks of life, including people not currently at the firm.
We recently wrote about incoming first-year and summer associates who saw their jobs go up in smoke. Another one of them contacted us today:
I was slated to be joining Dewey this fall before the recent turmoil. They assured us all expenses associated with preparation for the bar exam (BarBri, travel, etc.) would be covered by the firm. The deadline for BarBri came and went with no payment from Dewey. They instructed us to pay it ourselves ($3,xxx) and we would be reimbursed by the firm. Needless to say, there has been no reimbursement. Ditto on bar exam fees, transportation & hotel stays for the exam.
In the grand scheme of things, the amounts they owe us are small, but they are significant for students living off loans.These are lawyers just starting their legal careers. Also affected by the Dewey implosion are attorneys on the other end of the spectrum, namely, retired partners. One of them wrote to us over the weekend:As of today, while the partners did get their draw, the retirees got neither the funded piece nor the unfunded piece of their pension. Expenses approved for payment, done normally at the end of each month, were not credited to the person’s account.The shocking part of this is that contrary to the ill informed press accounts, Law360 in particular, the retirees’ pension obligations are not a significant drain. Before the merger, only LLGM [legacy LeBoeuf Lamb] had a real pension plan with survivors’ rights; Dewey Ballantine partners had an arrangement limited in time. To put matters in perspective, the total yearly pension benefits to all LLGM retired partners is roughly equal to the combined total yearly remuneration of Joel Sanders, CFO, and Steve DiCarmine, ex-executive director.If retired partners want their benefits, they’ll have to take a number. As Dewey falls apart, various parties are lining up for their piece of the pie. For example, JPMorgan Chase, leader of the bank syndicate behind Dewey’s $100 million revolving line of credit, recently filed a Uniform Commercial Code lien against the firm to protect its interests as a secured creditor. I don’t remember much from Bankruptcy class in law school, but I do remember that it’s good to be a secured creditor (or relatively good — I don’t think anyone would want to be a Dewey creditor these days, with or without a security interest).
UPDATE (9:30 PM): According to DealBook, ex-Dewey partner Morton Pierce, the M&A superstar who left the firm last week for White & Case, claims that D&L owes him the staggering sum of $61 million. Wow. Even if you stick Mort Pierce with his late brother’s unpaid legal bill of $9.6 million, you’re still talking about an amount north of $50 million. Whether Pierce will see much or any of that money remains to be seen.Meanwhile, current Dewey partners continue to depart. For example, litigator Gregory Coll recently left for Schiff Hardin, as reported by The BLT. And corporate partner Paul Chen moved over to DLA Piper, as reported by Thomson Reuters. (As we’ve mentioned before, Dewey partner defections are being tracked comprehensively over at Am Law Daily and Thomson Reuters News & Insight.)We will continue to serve as a clearinghouse for D&L information. If you have something to pass along, please feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477; not a voice line). Thanks.
and....
Ex-Vice Chairman at Dewey Is Said to Claim That He Is Owed $61 Million
BY PETER LATTMANDewey & LeBoeufMorton A. Pierce had been a vice chairman at Dewey.
A former vice chairman of
Morton A. Pierce, the former vice chairman, submitted his resignation on Friday and moved to White & Case with seven other partners. He informed Dewey of the amount of money he claimed that he was owed in his resignation letter, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about it.
Reached at White & Case on Monday, Mr. Pierce declined to comment.
Dewey is careening toward collapse after more than a third of its 300 partners have left the firm. An exodus ensued after disappointing financial results led the firm to slash salaries. Over the last week, Dewey has been winding down basic operations, like the copy center and mail room. Last Friday, it warned its employees that they could lose their jobs.
On Monday, Dewey told secretaries that Friday would be their last day, yet another signal that the New York law firm would shut its doors. Remaining partners and associates have not been given such notice.
Dewey’s leadership has said the firm has no immediate plans to file for bankruptcy protection. The firm is effectively under the control of its banks, which are using administrators to monitor expenditures at the firm’s Midtown
In the event of a bankruptcy filing, partners could stand to lose, in the aggregate, hundreds of million of dollars. In a law firm bankruptcy, partners are last in line; the firm’s banks and creditors would be first to be repaid.
The firm’s partners are also concerned they could be subject to additional claims, including lawsuits brought by creditors seeking to recover money.
The 63-year-old Mr. Pierce was one of the highest-paid partners at Dewey, garnering a package paying him $6 million a year for six years. He was the chairman of the legacy firm Dewey Ballantine, which in 2007 merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. A mergers-and-acquisitions specialist, Mr. Pierce has deep ties to the major banks and has done numerous deals for the
It is unclear what the $61 million comprises, but Dewey’s partners’ losses could come from a combination of money they invested in the firm, deferred compensation and
Several more departures occurred on Monday, including that of Geoffrey H. Coll, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer in
and....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303630404577390561244594568.html
Ailing law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP suffered a global round of defections as 25 partners and their teams jumped ship in cities ranging from Palo Alto, Calif., to Moscow.
One of Dewey's most-prized assets—the mergers-and-acquisitions group led by Silicon Valley attorneys Richard Climan and Keith Flaum—is heading to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, according to people familiar with the matter.
The team, which includes three other partners and four associates, became the focus of a bidding war between rival firms, these people said.
The Palo Alto departures came as Dewey's entire 31-lawyer office in Moscow, considered one of its most attractive foreign assets, defected to Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, a Philadelphia-based firm perhaps best known for its labor and employment practice.
The Moscow office, led by partner Brian Zimbler, has a strong, well-connected corporate group.
Morgan Lewis was expected to announce Tuesday that it also picked up Dewey's outpost in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a hub for energy and infrastructure work in the region, as well as three additional partners from Dewey's London office.
From New York, Dewey's Berge Setrakian, a prominent corporate lawyer who advises international companies on strategy and litigation, is bound for the global firm DLA Piper with nine other partners, including Joseph Tato, former chairman of Dewey's global project finance and infrastructure group.
The executive committee of DLA Piper, a 4,200-lawyer firm, approved the move by Mr. Setrakian and his group Monday morning, and it should be finalized by midweek, according to Roger Meltzer, global chairman of the firm's corporate and finance practice. The additions would bolster the firm's corporate and project finance groups, he said.
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