The caliber of law firms that have failed in recent years is staggering and includes the likes of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison; Heller Ehrman; Thacher Proffitt & Wood; Wolf Block; Howrey; and now, Dewey & LeBoeuf. As I worked with many of these firms earlier in my career, either as a GC or while in private practice, their ultimate fate is not something I foresaw at those times. All of these firms were justifiably renowned for their outstanding lawyers and seemed to be well-positioned for the long term.
So, what triggered their downfalls? In some respects, outsiders will never know all the particular reasons for a specific firm’s demise, as some answers will go to the grave with former partners. However, the decline and fall of those firms, and others, has made it increasingly apparent that there are some common factors that “legal coroners” have cited as key contributing causes to the deaths of these firms.
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