Partner's Sudden Departure Shutters Atlanta Boutique
When Lowell Fine departed March 31 from the Atlanta litigation boutique he helped found 26 years earlier, he handed in his resignation and left the same day, a former colleague at the firm says. The move reportedly shuttered Alembik, Fine & Callner seven weeks later, as other attorneys at the firm scrambled to line up new jobs.
“On Monday, Kathy L. Portnoy, who led the 10-lawyer firm’s domestic relations practice, formed a new firm, Callner, Portnoy & Strawser, with six of Alembik, Fine & Callner’s lawyers and the bulk of the staff,” writes the Daily Report, in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.). Three litigators joined Thompson Hine. The two other name partners died years ago.
Portnoy told the legal publication that Fine left March 31 with no notice and no explanation for his abrupt decision. Fine, who was the boutique’s managing partner, offered no explanation, other than a desire to retire, in a telephone message.
Although there is an ongoing malpractice suit against the firm, it is insured, and the case had nothing to do with Fine’s resignation, according to several of his former colleagues.
