Thomas Regan, left, of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith and Susan Winters, right, of Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi. Courtesy photos

To go along with the routine moves of a steadily active lateral market, one factor that added to the activity for much of the year was law firm closures.

With midyear dissolutions of New Jersey-based Budd Larner, as well as LeClairRyan, a national firm with a considerable presence in the state, individual and group moves resulted in abundance.

And months later, the lawyers involved in those moves say things have largely worked out well in their new environs.

'Through the bitter end'

The more recent developments came from LeClairRyan. The Am Law 200 firm in August announced plans to shutter, though departures went back well further. It was a year and a half before that announcement, for example, that litigator Jeffrey O'Hara brought his 11-lawyer group from LeClairRyan to Connell Foley. And late that year (2018), a group of four, including labor and employment group co-leader James Anelli and Newark office leader Joseph Paranac, left for the Newark office of White & Williams.

The firm saw more than 40 partner departures in 2018, The American Lawyer reported. And more moves came as the calendar turned.

One of the longer holdouts, though, was Thomas Regan, who had become leader of LeClairRyan's litigation department in early 2019. He also was leader of the Newark office after Paranac left, as well as leader of the Philadelphia office. Regan in mid-August led an 11-lawyer group to Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. By that time, LeClairRyan's dissolution already had been announced.

"I think I had more faith that we had outs," Regan said in a recent interview about the group's decision to stay on into August.

"Through the bitter end, we were working on things to try to right the ship" at LeClair, including through the law firm's joint venture with alternative legal services provider UnitedLex Corp., but those various attempts "didn't work out," Regan said.

"Since the decision was made to dissolve, obviously, [I was] looking for a landing spot for a large group, which takes a little longer," Regan said. "I had a lot of people under my umbrella."

The group got multiple offers, all of which were fair, he said. Regan said he was concerned that suitors could seek to take advantage of a group in a tough spot, but "thankfully, we were not in a position to have to defend against that," he said.

And so LeClairRyan's New Jersey contingent held together to a significant extent, though landing spots did vary. For instance, litigator Karol Corbin Walker (once the State Bar Association's president) joined Kaufman Dolowich & Voluck in Hackensack as a partner. Corporate lawyer Christopher Pizzo joined Fox Rothschild in Morristown. And a group of four lawyers led by environmental litigator Joseph Lagrotteria moved to K&L Gates in Newark.

Regan said the transition to Lewis Brisbois has been smooth. Thanks to considerable growth, the firm is adept at integrating new hires, and the firm "will continue to grow," he said. "We budget for growth."

Regan at his new firm has not returned to the sort of leadership roles he came to take on at LeClairRyan.

"I'm not bucking for it right now," he said. "But if asked, I will probably serve."

Regan, who joined LeClairRyan from Day Pitney in 2008, acknowledged the challenges leading up to and during the dissolution of LeClairRyan.

"The last six months … were probably the most stressful months of my career," he said, but LeClairRyan "was one of the best places you could possibly work."

'See what we could see through'

Before LeClairRyan, it was Short Hills-based Budd Larner that saw a series of departures before ultimately closing as of July.

All Budd Larner alums have found landing spots, according to former firm lawyers.

Though some departures predated it, the group move that looks to have accelerated things was led by Andrew Miller, who brought a 15-lawyer intellectual property group to the Madison office of Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf in April 2019. Around that same time, corporate and securities lawyer James Fitzsimmons left for Drinker Biddle & Reath in Florham Park (soon to be Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath pending its Feb. 1 merger with Faegre Baker Daniels). After that, family lawyers Karolina Dehnhard and David Tawil joined Norris McLaughlin, opening a Short Hills office for the Bridgewater-based firm. Then Coughlin Duffy in Morristown took on father-son employment lawyers Paul Weiner and Joshua Weiner. Later on, a three-lawyer group followed Miller to Windels Marx, led by partner Jonathan Gray.

Peter Frazza and Susan Winters, the firm's last two executive committee members, made their moves in the later part of the process. Frazza led a three-lawyer group to Gibbons, while Winters brought a group of six family lawyers to Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi in West Orange.

Winters in a recent interview said, "It was our commitment to see what we could see through with Budd Larner."

With that in mind, her group went to Chiesa Shahinian in two waves—one small group ahead of the rest, which gave them a head start in integrating with the new firm's systems, Winters said, noting that Chiesa Shahinian quickly installed the family practice software the group had been using at Budd Larner.

"We had to follow their protocol to transfer files … and we had a whole staff of people helping us," she said, and so the transition took weeks rather than months, as the group "really hit the ground running."

"I thought the whole thing would be cumbersome. … After almost 40 years at one place, there was a big unknown for my future, but this feels like home," Winters said.

Now the planned Short Hills office for the Chiesa firm, announced at the same time Winters' group was brought aboard, is close to ready, with an opening likely in January or early February, according to Winters.

Miller at Windels Marx said in a recent interview that he, like Winters, anticipated difficulties in his group's move, but those didn't come to fruition.

"You're a lawyer—you don't expect anything to go smoothly. When you represent clients, you spend your time thinking about the downside," Miller said. "You sort of feel responsible for 20 people. … I think everyone very much wanted to stay together as a group."

"Logistically, it's a big move because it's lots of people, but it couldn't have gone any smoother," he said, crediting Windels for its reception. He also credited the Budd Larner colleagues he left behind. "Your former firm can always make things difficult, and they didn't," he said.

For Windels, the transition wasn't entirely without bumps, as the firm was named in a suit by a recruiter, Kim Valentini of Austin & Devon Associates, who claims she was not paid for services rendered in placing Miller's group at Windels. Both sides agreed to arbitrate the matter, The American Lawyer reported recently. Miller wasn't named in the suit and has declined to comment on its claims.

Joshua Weiner, reached recently by phone, said his move was "as close to seamless as these things can be."

"It isn't my first firm switch. Like anything else, you're getting used to how the [new] firm does things," he said. "But ultimately that has been fairly smooth sailing. The firm has been extremely accommodating."

Weiner said their move was "a little ahead of the process," as they left for Coughlin Duffy shortly after the Miller group's departure called Budd Larner's future into question.

"My process was fairly quick because I had more than one recruiter calling me prior to me taking any action," Weiner said. "Recruiters are always the first to hear."