Ex-Managing Partner, 3 Others Leave Pierce Bainbridge to Start New Firm
The former acting managing partner at Pierce Bainbridge has formed a new boutique with three others, as their prior firm appears on increasingly shaky ground.
April 20, 2020 at 06:14 PM
3 minute read
shutterstock.com
Four Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht lawyers, including Tom Warren, who had been acting managing partner, plan to launch their own law firm by next month, the latest in a slew of lawyer departures from the unraveling litigation shop.
The four lawyers leaving Pierce Bainbridge—Warren, Dan Terzian, Daniel Dubin and Erick Kuylman—will form the new boutique, Warren Terzian. Before arriving at Pierce Bainbridge, Warren co-chaired Baker & Hostetler's national appellate practice.
The boutique lists locations in Cleveland, where Warren lives, and Los Angeles, where Terzian, a name partner, and associates Dubin and Kuylman are based. The firm's website was created earlier this month, according to domain registration records.
In an interview, Warren said the firm is set to launch on or around May 1 and will represent both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation. He said the plan is to do a mix of hourly cases and contingency cases, in the vein of Pierce Bainbridge or Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
"We're taking some cases with us that we'll be working on [and] we've got some new cases that we're working on," said Warren, who declined to specify the matters. "We're very excited. Pierce Bainbridge has been an amazing training ground."
The departures come as Pierce Bainbridge appears on increasingly shaky ground. Chief financial officer Kevin Cash and chief operating officer Camille Varlack told lawyers on a call April 13 that the firm was winding down, according to a person who was on the call and others who spoke to people on the call. Those sources said the firm plans to cease operations, though the timeline is uncertain.
The source who was on the April 13 call said lawyers at the firm were originally told it would shut down by April 15. But the source said that wasn't enough time to take steps such as informing clients and transferring cases. Some lawyers have been asked to stay on longer, the source added.
Varlack, Cash and John Pierce, the firm's founding partner, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
Pierce last week denied the firm was closing, calling reports of the firm's dissolution "fake news." He said the firm was still litigating major cases and said it laid off associates and staff because of bad economic conditions related to the pandemic.
One source estimated that eight or fewer lawyers remain at Pierce Bainbridge, a precipitous drop from December, when the firm had more than 60 lawyers. While dozens of lawyer profiles are still on the firm's website, many of those people have left the firm, according to court notices of withdrawal, source interviews and LinkedIn profiles.
Law.com reported in March that Pierce was on leave from his firm after questions were raised about his and the firm's finances. Lawyers who left the firm since then include three name partners: Carolynn Beck, Maxim Price and David Hecht.
Read More:
Pierce Bainbridge Leader John Pierce Is On Leave Amid Financing Questions
John Pierce Denies Reports Of Firm's Closure, Says Firm Laid Off Some Associates
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Three Akin Sports Lawyers Jump to Employment Firm Littler Mendelson
Brownstein Adds Former Interior Secretary, Offering 'Strategic Counsel' During New Trump Term
2 minute read
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
J. Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The suit, accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products, was filed Dec. 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc. and Graco Minnesota. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi, is 3:24-cv-11294, Graco Inc. et al v. Devco Corporation.
Who Got The Work
Rebecca Maller-Stein and Kent A. Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives, Lior Prosor and David Frankel, in a pending securities lawsuit. The action, filed on Dec. 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell, Aron & Co. on behalf of Goldeneye Advisors, accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick, is 1:24-cv-09918, Goldeneye Advisors, LLC v. Hanaco Venture Capital, Ltd. et al.
Who Got The Work
Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action. The suit, filed Dec. 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, is 1:24-cv-09445, Gonzalez v. The Toronto-Dominion Bank et al.
Who Got The Work
Crown Castle International, a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure, has turned to Luke D. Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC, accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Susan K. Declercq, is 2:24-cv-13131, The Town Residences LLC v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Wilfred P. Coronato and Daniel M. Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc. in a pending product liability lawsuit. The court action, filed Nov. 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern, alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Joan M. Azrack, is 2:24-cv-08204, Stern v. Electrolux Home Products, Inc.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
