A former corporate partner in the New York office of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge is suing the firm after it fired him for failing to meet revenue expectations.

Stephen Connoni, who joined the US firm in September 2007 but left one year later, sued the firm in April for allegedly "unilaterally and improperly" firing him without a required vote of the partnership and without paying him all that he was owed.

Edwards Angell contends that Connoni breached the terms of his agreement by failing to bring in the business he had promised. Connoni acknowledges that he did not generate the $1.9m (£1.1m) in business projected in his agreement with the firm, but argues that Edwards Angell should have adjusted its expectations given the economic meltdown.

Edwards Angell recruited Connoni from K&L Gates, where he was an equity partner in the firm's New York office.

According to his complaint, Connoni began talking to Edwards Angell in summer 2007 about a move to the firm with the aim to grow its New York corporate practice. The firm hired him that September as a contract partner.

Under a letter signed by co-managing partner Terrence Finn and "agreed to" by Connoni, the firm was to pay him $625,000 (£380,000) in 2008 provided he generated $1.9m of new business and himself collected $800,000 (£490,000) in fees.

Starting in 2009, the firm would determine his compensation on the same basis as other capital partners, the agreement states.

Connoni and Finn talked about what would happen if Connoni did not meet the billing expectations, the complaint says. Finn proposed linking Connoni's compensation directly to how much he collected, the complaint states.

"Connoni rejected that proposal, explaining that while he hoped and expected to quickly succeed, the building of a department could take significant time and effort by both himself and [Edwards Angell]," the complaint says.

Connoni says they agreed that his compensation could be "appropriately" adjusted based on a variety of factors, including economic and financial conditions and the state of private equity and securities practice areas.

Both sides agree that Connoni did not meet the expectations.

Edwards Angell says it collected $135,000 (£82,000) for Connoni's work in 2007 and 2008, only 12% of what he promised in his agreement. The firm charges that he did not even show up for work at some times and failed to make timely capital contributions to the firm.

Among the explanations Connoni advances for failing to meet his targets were "problems in the private equity and securities offering practice areas, the credit crisis, the nearly unprecedented downturn in the general economy and the disruptions in the financial markets."

He claims he also was hampered by late-paying clients, a lack of firm support, the departure of key partners, and the failure of other partners to introduce him to firm clients.

This article first appeared in The National Law Journal a US sister title of Legal Week.