Corporate Law
As Heller Dissolved, Partner Closed Big Deal; But Now What?
Posted Feb 20, 2009, 01:14 pm CST
By Martha Neil
As others at the dissolving Heller Ehrman law firm scrambled to find work last year, partner Steven Tonsfeldt found himself in an unusual situation.
He had a lot of work to do in a $3 billion deal involving a client's planned merger with Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. But, due to his firm's demise, he didn't have a normal law office setting to work in, reports the National Law Journal.
By early October, Tonsfeldt had helped Heller's West Coast corporate group find a new home at Cooley. He himself couldn't join them, however, because the firm represented Brocade in the same deal, conflicting him out of its ranks as he continued to represent Foundry Networks Inc. in the ongoing merger.
While Tonsfeldt and junior partner Kristen Kercher were still able to work themselves in Heller Ehrman's offices in Menlo Park, Calif., along with the skeleton administrative crew winding down the firm's affairs, they lacked the law firm support they needed to get the job done. This problem was solved, however, when DLA Piper, which served as litigation counsel for Foundry, agreed to serve as co-counsel on the Brocade deal.
As the deal foundered and negotiations stretched on longer than expected, though, the firm was closing down. This problem was solved by a move, as temporary counsel, to White & Lee, a 15-attorney transactional firm founded by a law school classmate of Tonsfeldt's.
It wasn't a difficult transition, he tells the NLJ: "My whole practice is sitting on a 2-inch thumbdrive. It holds 15 gigabytes, and I'm sure I didn't even use a fraction of it."
In December, he closed the Brocade deal, a noteworthy success in a year of economic debacle. And in January the 48-year-old veteran--who has seen his share of wild law firm rides working at Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, at the Venture Law Group, and at Heller, began looking for another law firm landing spot.
He's not as optimistic about the future as he once once, the legal publication writes. But he's got a new credential on his resume: Closing the Brocade merger for Foundry earned him an Am Law Daily accolade as Dealmaker of the Week.
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