Legal News

A Few Words About the Adorno & Yoss Implosion

By Nathan Koppel

Adorno & Yoss, the Miami shop that long billed itself as the nation’s largest minority-owned law firm, was once a runaway success story.

It grew by leaps and bounds over the last decade, numbering at its height more than 250 lawyers in 14 states, thanks partly to the fact that many companies are eager to hire quality minority counsel.

But the firm, now known as Yoss LLP, will close shop at the end of the month. The Daily Business Review has a story today about the firm’s implosion.

At the center of the tale is the firm’s co-founder Henry “Hank” Adorno (pictured). The Cuban lawyer was known as a skilled litigator and marketer with deep roots in Miami, where the firm was founded, according to the Daily Business Review.

But Adorno encountered problems with a case in which he represented Miami homeowners who filed suit in 1998 complaining about fire-rescue fees that the city was charging the homeowners.

Adorno settled the case in 2004 for $7 million, generating a $2 million fee for the firm. But a Florida appellate court criticized the settlement on the alleged grounds that it  benefited only a select group of plaintiffs and cut out some Miami taxpayers, according to the Business Review. The Florida bar later pursued disciplinary charges.

Adorno did not immediately return a call for comment.

The Miami taxpayer case was followed by others setbacks for the firm, including Adorno’s departure, a malpractice suit against the firm, bounced paychecks to employees, and office closings. The DBR reports the denouement this way:

The final decision apparently was forced on the firm by its bank, Wells Fargo, with which firm leaders were in negotiations the week of March 7. Former partners said the firm owed the bank $8 million. The week ended with a closing announcement, after attempts by [George] Yoss to secure a merger over the last two months failed.

Yoss, the firm’s managing partner, did not immediately return a call for comment.

“It’s a tragedy,” Joe Ankus, a Florida legal recruiter, told the newspaper. “At their peak, they were one of the most well-regarded and successful firms in South Florida. That’s not the first firm to go down, and it won’t be the last.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 28, 2011 (boomark / email).