Law Practice Management
Practitioners Play Musical Chairs Amidst Biggest Bankruptcy Boom in 20 Years
Posted Jan 12, 2009, 05:54 pm CST
By Martha Neil
As experts predict the biggest boom in bankruptcy matters in 20 years, the practice niche is a hot hiring area.
Among those who have suddenly jumped the law firm fence to potentially greener pastures elsewhere are O'Melveny & Myers restructuring co-chair Michael Sage, who moved to Dechert on Monday, and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft restructuring co-chair Bruce Zirinsky, who departed last week for Greenberg Traurig, reports the Am Law Daily.
Sage, who bills at $895 per hour, according to a bankruptcy case filing last year, came to O'Melveny in 2007 from Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. He moved to Stroock from Dewey Ballantine in 2002.
Leading to the legal business boom is a growing tsunami of troubled companies: Not only are companies in a broad array of businesses suddenly having to shift gears to deal with the new economic reality after a worldwide economic crisis hit last year, their suppliers are in the same situation, Reuters reports.
"I think what's unprecedented is the confluence of so many (companies) starting to have their issues, while at the same time, their creditors have their own significant challenges," says partner James Sprayregen of Kirkland & Ellis.
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