Biglaw

Big-Name Departures From Quinn Emanuel

Check out the update to see which partners are (likely) leaving Quinn.

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Faith E. Gay & Philippe Z. Selendy

Big news in the world of lateral partner moves: longtime Quinn Emanuel partners Philippe Z. Selendy and Faith E. Gay, along with “a handful of colleagues,” are leaving the Biglaw giant.

As reported by Big Law Business, the two high-powered financial litigators are opening up their own shop. The identities of those joining them have yet to be announced (though in addition to Selendy’s and Gay’s Quinn bio pages being taken down, the one for Selendy’s wife, Jennifer Selendy, is also gone).

UPDATE (3:02 p.m.): Other lawyers leaving Quinn — as reflected in their bios having been removed from the QE website — include Sean Baldwin, Christine Chung, Andrew Dunlap, David Elsberg, and Maria Ginzburg. The new firm will be known as Selendy & Gay PLLC.

Philippe Selendy was chair of the firm’s securities and structured finance practices, and was referred to as the “Man Who Took On Wall Street” for his role in the residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) litigation. Faith Gay was co-chair of the national trial practice and co-chair of the New York white-collar practice, with over 30 trials under her belt and a strong pro bono resume.

In a statement, Quinn Emanuel’s managing partner, John B. Quinn, said:

Our firm has never been stronger, and has never had a deeper bench of veteran and next generation talent.  We of course respect our valued colleagues’ decision to take their practice to a smaller platform, but we do not expect these departures to have any significant impact on our practice or our revenue.

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It’s certainly true that Quinn has a deep bench of great litigators, ranging from Bill Burck, the go-to lawyer for current and former Trump Administration officials in the cross-hairs, and high-profile recent additions like Alex Spiro, Luke Nikas, and Chris Landau. But the Selendy and Gay departures are still significant, as a litigation partner at a rival Biglaw firm told us:

These are the most visible younger partners in the financial litigation space. Quinn is acting like it is no big deal, but the new firm has many of their second-generation stars. Not sure what the new firm’s bread and butter will be, with financial crisis litigation winding down, but I expect they will find away to be a force to be reckoned with.

A second source suggested that the shifting ground in finance-related litigation might have had something to do with the moves:

One has to wonder whether this is linked to the settling of mortgage-backed securities litigation, which Selendy was known for having led. I also know Philippe had been interested in getting even more involved in pro bono work. Given the profit-driven nature of Quinn, I’m not sure how his endeavors meshed with the firm’s environment.

A desire to do more pro-bono or public-facing work is certainly one factor driving the trend of prominent partners leaving top Biglaw firms to launch boutiques. See, e.g., Roberta Kaplan leaving Paul Weiss to launch Kaplan and Company.

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UPDATE (3:14 p.m.): Per Big Law Business, “Selendy acknowledged Quinn Emanuel partners have different views on what cases they would like to handle, and characterized the firm as ‘fractious.’ Some lawyers prefer high profits while others are interested in public interest work, Selendy said.”

Peter E. Calamari, managing partner of the New York office of Quinn Emanuel, wished Faith Gay and Philippe Selendy — and those they take with them — success:

It is a sign of our firm’s maturity and great success that over the years we have seen individual lawyers in a number of our offices go off to start their own firms. We wish them all great success.

We here at Above the Law also wish the pair success as they enter the brave new world of boutique law firms.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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