shutterstock.com

Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht, the self-described fastest-growing firm in the history of the world, has been contracting lately.

Six partners have left since August, according to announcements by their new firms and public posts. Three are in New York, and the others are in Boston, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

The departures come amid a contentious legal feud between Pierce Bainbridge and a former partner on both coasts, litigation that has included allegations about the firm's management and litigation financing strategy.

John Pierce, the firm's global managing partner, said in a statement to Law.com on Wednesday that he had great respect for the lawyers who left and wished them well. But as the former tank commander frequently does, he compared his firm to the special forces, saying that "not everyone is cut out for SEAL training or Ranger School."

"The reality is this is not an easy firm to work at. We have tremendous fun and try the best cases. But the culture of this firm is often extremely stressful and intense," he wrote, adding each firm lawyer is responsible for trying cases, developing business and helping with management tasks. "Our people must have not only thick skin but skin made of kevlar combined with titanium at times. The only lawyers who should join our firm are the ones who can do all of those things and who can swallow some risk."

The six partner exits include Michael Winograd, the co-founder of Pierce Bainbridge's New York office, who has moved to Brown Rudnick; Deborah Renner, a New York class actions specialist formerly of Baker & Hostetler who appears to have started her own firm; Robert Allen, an intellectual property lawyer in Los Angeles, who left for Glaser Weil Fink Howard Avchen & Shapiro; Susan Winkler in Boston, a longtime federal prosecutor who started her own firm; Jeff Alexander, a commercial litigator in New York; and Joan Meyer in Washington, D.C., who worked on compliance and investigations.

The six declined to comment directly on why they left Pierce Bainbridge or couldn't be reached for comment. Allen said he was excited to rejoin a former colleague from McKool Smith with his move to Glaser Weil. Meyer declined to state which firm she was joining. The other four recently departed partners didn't respond to comment requests on Wednesday and Thursday.

John Pierce of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht/photo by Jack Newsham

Pierce has frequently stated his desire to join the profitability ranks or overtake in strength some of the country's top litigation firms, including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where he previously worked, saying that his firm's use of litigation funding and cutting-edge legal tech set it apart.

He hit those same notes in his Wednesday statement to Law.com, asserting, "within a few to several years we will be the most dominant and profitable global litigation firm."

Meanwhile, the litigation between Pierce Bainbridge and a former partner, Donald Lewis, which burst into public view earlier this year, is still making headlines almost every month. Lewis said he was fired for telling Pierce to stop wasting money that had been loaned to the firm by litigation funders such as Pravati Capital, and he has filed pages of screenshots of texts, Slack messages and emails that depict Pierce as a sexist with substance abuse issues and his partners as unwilling to stop him.

The firm has fired back with a suit of its own that accuses Lewis of engaging in extortion. Pierce Bainbridge has said Lewis' allegations are false and meant to distract from the fact that he was terminated amid a probe into a staffer's sexual assault allegations that it deemed credible. Lewis has said those allegations are false.

Asked about whether the Lewis case has had any impact on the firm, Pierce said no.

"Like any organization that has grown at light speed, change is part of our culture," he said. "A few of our outstanding colleagues have moved on, and we wish them nothing but the best. We continue to capture the attention of the entire legal industry with our uncanny ability to attract top-tier talent and file cutting-edge cases."