Legal News

The End Appears Nigh for Howrey

By Nathan Koppel

Howrey partners are set to vote next week to wind down the firm, the Legal Week is reporting.

With Winston & Strawn due to take on many Howrey partners, the beleaguered D.C. firm evidently appears set to become one of the few AmLaw 100 firms in history to bite the dust. (Here’s a link to our recent posts about Howrey’s struggles.)

A Howrey spokeswoman declined to comment.

One former Howrey partner told Legal Week: “The wind-down of Howrey is an inevitability. The failure to restructure the firm during the recession has led to a situation where the firm will have to get rid of its assets and wind down over the course of the next year to 18 months.”

And another former partner commented: “Winston will pick out the assets that are most appealing and then leave the firm to wind itself down.”

Whatever happens, Howrey serves as yet another reminder about how precarious the law biz can be. A trickle of partner departures can quickly turn into a stream and then a gusher of defections. It takes a lot of institutional glue to patch the dike.

[End of post.]

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 04, 2011 (boomark / email).