More lawyers exit Bingham and Dickstein; Switching firms no longer carries stigma, says WSJ
Faced with a post-recession legal market that has been characterized by reduced demand for services and pressure by corporate clients to cut costs, some reconfiguring law firms are seeing significant lateral movement.
Last month came news that 18 partners in Bingham McCutchen’s London office were leaving for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Now Legal Week (sub. req.) reports that they will be joined there by 18 associates and five lawyers serving as counsel in Bingham’s London office.
A planned merger of Bingham with Morgan Lewis & Bockius is pending.
Meanwhile, two Dickstein Shapiro leaders and an intellectual property partner in California are exiting for Manatt Phelps & Phillips, the Am Law Daily (sub. req.) reported last week.
The firm, which saw both its equity partner roster and its revenue drop last year by nearly 20 percent, also lost 13 public policy lawyers and lobbyists to Greenberg Traurig in July, and had two insurance coverage partners exit for Lowenstein Sandler in August, notes the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).
Dickstein decined to comment on the exits, but said in a written statement provided to the WSJ that the firm is utilizing conservative financial management and focusing on specialized practice areas.
As recently as the 1980s, switching law firms, especially repeatedly, could carry a stigma. But that is no longer true, according to the Wall Street Journal.
As rainmaking partners repeatedly look to negotiate the best deals they can for themselves, BigLaw today is “like a baseball team where everybody is on a one-year contract,” legal consultant Ward Bower of Altman Weil Inc, tells the newspaper.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Which law firms lost the highest percentage of lawyers in the last year?”
ABAJournal.com: “Are key partners on board for merger of Bingham and Morgan Lewis?”
ABAJournal.com: “After a difficult 2013, Dickstein Shapiro is on track for a solid year, chairman says”
