Legal News

A Lawyer Hemorrhage at Thacher Proffitt: Ten Partners Walk

By Dan Slater

Thacher Proffitt made headlines in the last six months for associate layoffs. Apparently, it’s seeing some voluntary lawyer-migration as well. The NLJ reports that, in the last six months, ten U.S. partners and some two dozen associates have left the firm, which had had a substantial practice in the now-decimated structured-finance business.

Some former partners told the NLJ that firm profits are anticipated to slide substantially in 2008. Last year, Thacher Proffitt reported slightly more than $1 million in profits per partner, down about 22% from 2006, according to AmLaw. Other departing partners downplayed the significance of the firm’s finances in their decisions.

Paul Tvetenstrand (pictured), the firm’s managing partner, said the recent partner departures were unrelated to the layoffs. But he acknowledged that the total number of them was “a lot, for a short period of time.”

“It’s a tough marketplace to be in,” he said. “I would fully expect in 2009 to bounce back to the levels we had beforehand. But I don’t know what 2008 will be.”

In March, V. Gerard Comizio, a banking partner at Thacher Proffitt, joined Paul Hastings. A month later, Christopher F. Graham, the former head of Thacher Proffitt’s bankruptcy practice, joined McKenna Long & Aldridge. That same month, two other partners, Steven R. Howard and Thomas M. Majewski, who focus on mutual funds and hedge funds, joined Bingham McCutchen. Robert Villani, a securitization partner, joined Clifford Chance last month, the NLJ reports.

In February, Kevin Plunkett, a government relations partner, took two associates to DelBello Donnellan Weingarten Wise & Wiederkehr, based in White Plains, N.Y. A month later, Thacher Proffitt’s Latin America practice, which included about two dozen lawyers in litigation and corporate law, joined New York’s Chadbourne & Parke. In April, Joseph Grasso, an insurance litigation partner, joined the Philadelphia office of New Haven, Conn.-based Wiggin and Dana.

The latest to leave, Robert Klausner, a commercial real estate partner, joined Day Pitney, along with two associates. “Thacher was so structured-finance oriented,” he said. “And, obviously, the economy had something to do with my decision.” But ultimately, he said, “I have a better platform at Day Pitney than I have at Thacher.”

Tvetenstrand says that no more layoffs are planned. He anticipates that real estate will come back, and that “if business picks up, we’ll be in the marketplace hiring partners and associates.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 11, 2008 (boomark / email).