Legal News

Wolf Block Partnership Votes to Dissolve the Firm

By Ashby Jones

Indeed, when we blogged on Wolf Block earlier in the day, we suspected it might end like this.

As it turns out, it has. The economic downturn claimed another victim in the law-firm world on Monday when the partnership at the 300-lawyer Philadelphia firm, voted to dissolve the firm. Click here and here for stories from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Business Journal, respectively.

The firm, which had been a significant part of Philadelphia’s law-firm community dating to its founding in 1903, had in recent months seen significant dips in two of its major practice areas — real estate and public finance. Several key partners had left the firm following the failure of two highly publicized merger attempts with Cozen O’Connor and Akerman Senterfitt.

In a statement, the firm said: “The decision to unwind was reached in view of a confluence of unfavorable factors: the economic recession, especially in the firm's core real estate practice; the constriction of credit occasioned by the ongoing banking crisis; and the intended and anticipated departure of significant partners and practices.” On the decision to shutter operations, the firm added: “The partners concluded that continued efforts to finance the firm's operations in the face of these obstacles was unwise.”

The firm said it would remain in business for several months to wind down operations. Brad Hildebrandt, a consultant with Hildebrandt International, was tapped to manage the firm’s dissolution. He called the news “terribly unfortunate.”

Ward Bower, a consultant with Altman Weil in Newtown Square, Pa., called the news sad. “It’s a shame,” he said. “The firm didn’t grow like some other Philadelphia firms, but was always known as a place with a deep commitment to pro-bono and an impeccable sense of ethics.”

Bower said the firm’s lack of growth in recent years had helped cast it in a precarious place. “The [law firm] industry isn’t exactly ‘grow or die,’ but there is a growth imperative. Firms that don’t grow often have a hard time diversifying and landing profitable work from big clients.”

Hildebrandt wouldn’t speak to news reports of large groups of Wolf Block attorneys finding employment at other firms. “Suffice it to say that sevearl large groups are talking to other firms,” he said. “But we won’t know how this all plays out for several months.”

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 23, 2009 (boomark / email).