Quinn Emanuel Sues Major Lindsey: We Agreed to Pay for 1 Partner, Not Group
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges was apparently thrilled to lure two intellectual property partners from Latham & Watkins last month.
But when it came time to pay the bill for legal recruiter Major Lindsey & Africa’s work in luring David Nelson and Sean Pak from Latham, the Quinn firm balked, reports the American Lawyer. In a lawsuit (PDF) that Quinn Emanuel filed on its own behalf in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, the firm contends that it agreed to pay a recruiting fee only for one of the two new attorneys, not two—and not any other Latham IP attorneys who might move to the firm in Nelson’s wake.
Key to the resolution of the dispute is whether the court determines that a standard contract the Quinn firm says it uniformly uses when dealing with Major Lindsey and other legal recruiters still applies.
Although there apparently was no express written agreement between the two parties that the standard contract applied concerning the recruitment of the two Latham lawyers, Quinn Emanuel is seeking a declaratory judgment that the longtime course of dealing between the law firm and Major Lindsey shows that the standard contract remained in force, according to the complaint.
However, Major Lindsey is arguing that a purported new contract attached to an e-mail mailed to the firm that provided Nelson’s resumé requires Quinn Emanuel to ante up, according to American Lawyer. Apparently focusing on Nelson’s credentials, the firm seemingly missed language in the e-mail stating that it would be deemed to have accepted the new recruitment contract by seeking to bring the IP partner on board.
Offering her own personal view of such matters, New York-based legal recruiter Marina Sirras tells the ABA Journal that the best practice is to have a contract signed before sending a resumé or pursuing the recruitment process.
“It’s best for both sides to have an explicitly written contract with the terms spelled out,” says Sirras, who is president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants.”You won’t have any misunderstandings that way.”
Under the terms set by Major Lindsey e-mail, if it is found to be the controlling document, the Quinn firm would have to pay Major Lindsey 25 percent of each partner’s initial annual compensation, the Am Law post explains.
In a written statement, Major Lindsey told American Lawyer that it performed services and is entitled to be paid. “We trust this will be resolved either in court or in conversations between the parties,” says regional practice manager John Cashman in the statement.
Updated at 11:55 a.m. on March 6 to include Sirras comments made to ABA Journal.
