In early May, members of Dewey & LeBoeuf’s management team left the firm. One headed for the greener pastures of O’Melveny & Myers; one headed for a new home at Winston & Strawn; while the others went to Proskauer Rose and Arnold & Porter. Online message boards lit up like a Christmas tree, with commentators likening those moves to ‘rats fleeing a sinking ship’ and to Francesco Schettino, the captain who allegedly left the sinking Costa Cruise ship off the coast of Italy.
News of the senior moves came among a continued stream of partner departures as rival firms circle the rapidly declining Dewey. As this issue of LB went to press, the firm looked likely to collapse at any moment. New York staff faced mass layoffs, US staff were placed on notice, Dewey’s UK LLP was on the brink of administration and international offices were shutting doors.
But what about the hundreds of associates, paralegals and trainees, who perhaps opted for Dewey as a decent place to work, who are now to be thrown out into a market bereft of jobs? In London alone, the market has seen firms like Herbert Smith and Macfarlanes making redundancies because of overcapacity, while Clifford Chance has also recently laid off associates.
Perhaps as an antithesis to the recent events, some individuals have been working quietly behind the scenes to ensure some of those who will be particularly vulnerable if Dewey sinks are rescued.
Some have been working to ensure some of those who will be particularly vulnerable if Dewey sinks are rescued.
In the UK, former London managing partner Peter Sharp – despite having signed a deal to join Morgan, Lewis & Bockius – is working hard to not only find new homes for partners and associates but for trainees as well.
Sharp’s efforts have to be commended. He could have jumped, much like his former management colleagues, but instead he’s stuck around to help out before he goes to another firm. He’s also part of a five member ‘crisis committee’ that the London office struck up, which was tasked with trying to find the best future for the London office. Other members include Bruce Johnston, the firm’s former bank and institutional finance group chair; European restructuring chief Mark Fennessy; restructuring partner Hazel Miller; and UK tax chief Judith Harger.
Stateside, the firm’s former global real estate chairman Stuart Saft, who joined Holland & Knight in May, told LB that 43 firms approached him upon news that Dewey was in trouble. His only important requirement was that his team came with him.
‘Every firm was happy to take me but I had to find a firm to take the entire team,’ he said. ‘I wanted to make sure my team had somewhere soft to land. I couldn’t have abandoned my people.’
Saft has already taken six associates, three paralegals, two of counsel and the relevant secretaries with him. He is also in talks to take more people with him, including a few partners.
One hopes that other departing partners around the world will replicate these efforts. It should always be remembered that often in cases like these, it is those outside the partnership who suffer the most.