Biglaw Brawl: Cravath’s Chesler v. K&L’s Kalis
It’s not unusual for Biglaw partners to find themselves on opposite sides of the ring when they face off on behalf of clients in litigation. But Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s Evan Chesler and K&L Gates’s Peter Kalis are staring each other down for a different reason: their opinions on law firm billing structures. Not as sexy as fighting over Lady Justice, but we’ll take what we can get.
UK-based legal publication The Lawyer is hyping the fierce match between the two Biglaw heavyweights to promote an upcoming issue of the magazine that will explore “whether the current economic downturn represent[s] a paradigm shift for the world’s leading firms.”
In one corner, we have Cravath presiding partner Evan Chesler, an NYU Law grad (‘75) and a “Leading Litigator” per the Lawdragon. In the other corner, we have K&L chairman Peter J. Kalis, a Yale Law grad (‘78) who has also been recognized by the Lawdragon but is, more importantly, a member of the Elect (clerked for Justice Byron White).
See the fight unfurl, after the jump.
Evan “The Dragon” Chesler called for an end to the billable hour in a Forbes op-ed in January. P.J. “The Elect” Kalis is taking Chesler to the mat on this, says The Lawyer:
“The paradigm shift has a number of key implications for our industry,” Kalis argued. “Enlightened law firms for years have been offering alternative fee arrangements to clients. To hear a leader of a Wall Street firm recently issue a clarion call for alternative fees was amusing.“One wonders whether his call to action might have something to do with preserving margins in an era in which they are severely threatened.”
“Amusing”? Hiss.
Yes, Cravath had a rough 2008, with PPP tumbling by 24 percent. K&L Gates partners still take home less than those at Cravath, but K&L’s gross revenue surged last year, putting the firm a few pegs higher than Cravath on AmLaw’s list of top 100 highest-grossing firms of 2008. Is this why Kalis feels ready to talk smack now?
“The Dragon” says the comments from Kalis are “unfair” and that he has been suggesting “alternatives to the billable hour since before the economy declined.” According to The Lawyer, Chesler says of Kalis:
“This is a facile comment by somebody who is not well informed.”
Translation: “You call my commentary amusing, good sir? I call you poorly-informed and your remarks facile!”
Sadly, K&L Gates is not in the Vault 32, so there’s no chance Cravath and K&L Gates will meet in an ATL March Madness match-up. But the two partners are welcome to vote furiously for and against Cravath in the competition as a proxy for a real showdown.
US firm bosses in spat over billing [The Lawyer]
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Comments
I've got something for both of them.
first
What's with not posting a picture of attorneys on the really elite, prestigious law firm websites?
Law firms will never give up the billable hour as long as they keep using hours to measure the value of their workers.
Ha. This is the kind of smackdownery that gives me fond memories of UTR.
Kash to ring girl for the Chesler/Kalis cagefight!
Kash's boyfriends call her
k&L GAPES
That's enough, Pete Kalis.
Wait, what does (Willard) Mitt Romney have to do with this?
This is kind of sad. I mean K&L Gates... really? They basically gave up front offers to everyone at Harvard before even interviewing. The firm is a joke.
Tent
Being Presiding Partner of Cravath >>>> Being a (former) member of the Elect. hth
I think that Mr. Kalis needs to keep more quiet. There will come a time when all of those firms like K&L Gates or DLA Piper will fold. They're below average in all of their gazillion offices around the world and just buy turnover by hiring complete teams of below average lawyers and merging with other below average firms. My guess is that at some point in time K&L Gates and DLA Piper will merge to become K&DLA Piper at the Gates of Dawn. One year later they will fold - forever.
Awesome blossom!
I wish Evan Chesler was my wife.
Its like 2 indie rock kids arguing over who liked Modest Mouse first.
I knew a guy in my high school who had a Kalis on his Chesler. It wasn't a big deal.
I'll go with Cravath over K&L GaTTTLTTTes any day of the week!
I'll also take the Cravath Dragon over K&L GaTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTLTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTes!
wow, how retarded do you have to be to be a rhodes scholar, SCOTUS clerk, and EIC of yale law journal and still end up at K&L gates?
there must be something totally effed up about that guy
kudos to chesler for keeping it classy. kalis is a bitch for that needless comment.
wow, how retarded do you have to be to be a rhodes scholar, SCOTUS clerk, and EIC of yale law journal and still end up at K&L gates?
there must be something totally effed up about that guy
kudos to chesler for keeping it classy. kalis is a bitch for that needless comment.
4 -- hours are only a simple proxy for bottom line revenue. If you think firms don't study the realization rates and collections attributable to the work of the associates, you're fooling yourself.
Why is Mitt Romney hiding out as a Biglaw Partner?
K&L Gates Revenue might be up 27%, but its revenue per lawyer is only up 1%. Not that impressive.
19, perhaps he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, since he's from nearby.
19, 24 let's be specific: "totally effed up" =
West. Virginia.
I don't know Chesler, but he has to be a better human being than Kalis. Kalis' ego is uncontainable, he is emotionally immature with a temper to match, and he runs the firm in a manner that is all about him, which accounts for the firm's immaturity as well as the general lack of morale, especially in Pittsburgh.
26 is bitter and wrong. Pete Kalis is a visionary and a good man. Objectively speaking, what he is doing with that firm, especially given the current economic climate, is remarkable.
26 is bitter and wrong. Pete Kalis is a visionary and a good man. Objectively speaking, what he is doing with that firm, especially given the current economic climate, is remarkable.
Does Cravath have its name on top of a building in downtown Pittsburgh? Didn't think so. Game, set, match Kalis.
How many marriages (within his firm) has Chesler destroyed? Guaranteed Kalis has him there. Also, Kalis likes them old and attainable; doesn't like to work to hard for his release I guess.
how many good people lost their jobs so petey could put the name on the building.... all my dealing with him over the years were nearly perfectly described by 26.
Who has the bigger dick?
23: K+L Gates is a Ponzi scheme. Their gross revenues keep growing because they keep buying up 3d and 4th tier firms. If I were Evan Chesler, I wouldn't acknowledge Kalis' existence, much less respond to him.
Not clear how the sign and layoffs are at all related. I'm glad the firm is doing something positive in hard times.
If you look at the AmLaw rankings of the highest grossing law firms of 2008 (as per the link in this article) and order the list based on revenues per lawyer, the top 5 law firms right now are:
(1) S&C ($1.48 million)
(2) Davis Polk ($1.23 million)
(3) Cravath ($1.21 million)
(4) Debevoise ($1.2 million)
(5) Munger ($1.17 million)
Wachtell and Simpson are not yet listed as of the time of this posting, but I think this list does accurately reflect to a certain extent who some of the real power players were last year (and perhaps got a larger than average share of work from the Wall Street crisis or were not as dependent on Wall Street for work). Some of these firms may not be as well positioned for 2009 (e.g., Cravath and Davis Polk seem to have been mentioned on other ATL posts as being in this position), so we may see S&C and Debevoise rise even further on the revenues per lawyer ranks in 2009.
Yep, I know Pete, and I wouldn't be surprised if 27/28 is him. I don't think any K&L attorney has anything good to say about him, and the double-post reminds me of his many technological faux pas. This is a man who, within the past ten years, used to send out all-attorney e-mails (marked high importance!) cursing at the associates. & one day he decided to add the New York office, in addition to the Pittsburgh office, to his signature line in a blatant attempt to pretend he was running a New York firm.
32 - Not sure, but I can tell you who IS the bigger dick. It's Chesler. That guy is a big time a-hole. And he has nothing on Kalis, Cravath isn't even in the same league as K&L. Two offices and no presence in Asia? That firm is crap.
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole.
The only thing billable around here are my balls...billable with POWER!
34 - Are you kidding? You don't spend a fortune on a freaking sign as a testament to ego while at the same time you are stripping people of their livelihood in order to make your ends meet financially. It is absolutely immoral.
It's particularly amazing to put a sign on a building a year before you move into it.
34: A firm ends a decades long relationship with a perfectly good office building and moves a block away, paying higher rent and incurring huge moving costs, solely because the new building can accomodate a large, ugly sign. That is the relationship between the layoffs and the sign.