Joseph De Donato of Bennett Bricklin & Saltzburg, and and Leonard Leicht of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin/courtesy photo

From hanging a shingle to joining Big Law, the recent closure of Morgan Melhuish Abrutyn has sent the firm's attorneys to a variety of new environs.

The most recent known move—aside from Elliott Abrutyn joining Braff, Harris, Sukoneck & Maloof this month—isn't a move at all, at least in the physical sense: former Morgan Melhuish equity partner Joseph De Donato stayed in the firm's Livingston office space and opened a northern New Jersey outpost for Bennett Bricklin & Saltzburg, a litigation firm of about 80 lawyers based in Philadelphia.

De Donato is joined by Mark Hall, who had been a Morgan Melhuish senior associate. The office opening for Bennett Bricklin, effective Feb. 3, involved the firm taking on a portion of the existing Morgan Melhuish space at 651 Old Mount Pleasant Ave. in Livingston.

De Donato now is managing partner of Bennett Bricklin's Livingston office after making what he said in a phone interview was a smooth transition.

"All clients, both New York and New Jersey, did come with me," De Donato said.

Leaders of Bennett Bricklin were "looking for an opportunity" to bolster the firm's presence in northern New Jersey and New York, and Michael Dolich, a partner in the firm's Marlton office who years before had been at Morgan Melhuish, keeping in touch with former colleagues in the years since, made the connection, according to De Donato.

As of Jan. 1, Leonard Leicht, also an equity partner at Morgan Melhuish, joined the Roseland office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, which has some 500 attorneys firmwide, and about 90 between its New Jersey offices in Roseland and Mount Laurel.

"By being here I'm able to bring in lines of work, like copyright work, that Morgan Melhuish never did," Leicht, reached by phone, said of his move to Marshall Dennehey. "And I've also been able to support my trucking, transportation and employment practice."

Leicht joined Morgan Melhuish directly from law school and spent 33 years there as "a very loyal partner of the firm," he said. "I was there until the end. … I had to make sure I had the proper support for my clients."

Like De Donato and Hall, two other Morgan Melhuish alums—partner Robert Machi and counsel Jeffrey Dollinger—along with two paralegals, are staying put physically, launching a real estate firm. The Law Office of Robert J. Machi opened Jan. 27 at the existing Morgan Melhuish space in Livingston.

The new firm is expected to end up in new space in the same building, Dollinger, reached by phone, said. In the sense that the Morgan Melhuish real estate department is staying together in the same location, the closure "has affected us the least of anybody," Dollinger said.

Dollinger joined Morgan Melhuish three years ago from his own firm, while Machi had been there since 1987.

Professional liability litigator Abrutyn, also an equity partner and Morgan Melhuish co-managing partner, joined Braff Harris as of Feb. 3. Richard Snyder, an insurance coverage and construction litigation attorney, joined him.

Morgan Melhuish officially closed on Jan. 31, though it is in a wind-down period.

The departure precipitating the dissolution came in late 2019, when equity partner Meredith Stoma brought her professional liability practice, including four other attorneys, to the Newark office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. At the time, Stoma, a rainmaker and co-managing partner of Morgan Melhuish, counted clients' desire for a national platform among her reasons for the move. California-based Lewis Brisbois has approximately 1,500 attorneys in 52 offices in 29 states, according to the firm.

Two others have followed Stoma: Timothy Saia, who practices commercial, professional liability and general liability litigation; and Thomas Rantas, who handles professional liability and insurance coverage. Both joined Lewis Brisbois as of Jan. 27 and had been partners at Morgan Melhuish.

Colin Hackett, managing partner of Lewis Brisbois' Newark office, said by phone that Saia's New York- and New Jersey-based commercial litigation practice brings a new dimension to the Newark office. "He'll fit in very well in our firm because of our multiple offices," Hackett said.

The Morgan Melhuish laterals represent the first time Lewis Brisbois' Newark office has brought on a large group from a boutique firm. In such a move, rates "have to be compatible," and that "was not an issue for us," Hackett said.

The departure of Stoma's group and rainmaking ability would prove untenable for Morgan Melhuish's future, the firm's alums said.

When that group left, "the overhead was to the point were it was unsustainable," according to Leicht.

Leicht said that, up until that point, there had been no major defections of clients or attorneys, and "the firm had been stable for a long time," including steady revenue.

Succession, though, "would've been an issue" in the future, he added. "The was no clear succession plan," he said.

The firm's closure, Leicht said, was "the absolute most difficult time of my professional career," adding, "my former partners were like family. … I wish them nothing but the best."

According to De Donato, "everybody in the firm was saddened … but attorneys and staff all landed well."

Matthew Schorr, assistant director of the casualty department at Marshall Dennehey, of which Leicht is a member, said "we had heard about Morgan Melhuish" in the time leading up to Leicht's hire. Schorr called Morgan Melhuish "a pillar in the defense industry for literally 100 years."

Schorr pointed up Leicht's addition of new clients in areas of employment, premises and transportation litigation. "These are all things our firm does, but he brought in some new clients with whom we didn't have relationships," Schorr said.

While tighter margins for insurance defense work alone might not squeeze out smaller litigation firms such as Morgan Melhuish, Schorr said carriers' push to reduce their outside counsel rosters can be detrimental.

"The insurance defense industry as a whole is moving towards convergence," Schorr said.

"Back in the day, insurance companies would have a 1,000 firms on panel," but now it's a fraction of that number, he added.