Biglaw Lawsuit Reveals *Messy* Partner Issues

Fascinating filings.

(Image via Getty)

Former Dentons partner Jinshu “John” Zhang has filed a lawsuit against the mega firm alleging he was wrongfully terminated for trying to stop firm leadership from stealing tens of millions of dollars. The complaint alleges that, at the behest of CEO Michael McNamara and general counsel Edward Reich, the Biglaw firm forged a document to try to get the millions from a China-based client.

As the complaint reads:

“With Zhang’s clients gone, his reputation destroyed, his compensation eliminated, and his career in shambles, Zhang now brings this action against defendants for statutory and common law wrongful termination, racial discrimination, international infliction of emotional distress, and declaratory relief, to hold them accountable for their horrendous and cruel misdeeds.”

But that barely scratches the surface of the allegations between the former partner and the Biglaw firm. As reported by Law.com, Dentons has hit back saying Zhang is making “slanderous and false allegations.” And that he was fired for cause after Zhang’s attempt for payment of 85 percent of a contingency fee, which the firm claims is contrary to firm practices. The firm then says Zhang circumvented the firm, and took his fee demands directly to the client:

“Zhang went around Dentons to the client, with whom Zhang negotiated for Zhang to personally receive the lion’s share of the contingency fee award,” according to the document signed by [Dentons’ attorneys] King & Spalding’s Joseph Akrotirianakis. “Zhang also began secretly exfiltrating sensitive and confidential information from Dentons, including client confidential information and sensitive personal information of non-party individuals.”

Dentons alleges that the firm terminated Zhang for cause on May 5 and entered into arbitration with Zhang to attempt to collect the contingency fee award, but he initiated a state court lawsuit against the firm during the dispute resolution process, violating the firm’s partnership agreement. [The case was later removed to federal court.] “Zhang, however, continued to participate in arbitration proceedings until the issuance of an adverse ruling against him on May 26, 2021, at which point Zhang abruptly withdrew from the arbitration,” according to court documents.

But Zhang’s filings paint a different picture:

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According to Zhang, the board said he violated the partnership agreement by “[a]ttempting to negotiate his compensation ‘off-cycle,’ daring to demand McNamara’s termination, sending emails to his personal email account, and other made-up or make-weight arguments.”

Zhang also contends that he withdrew from the arbitration proceedings with Dentons because “the emergency arbitrator clearly did not have jurisdiction to make the rulings that he did—and separately because his rulings represented gross violations of Zhang’s rights of petition, due process, and free speech.”

The firm issued a statement on the allegations:

“Zhang’s slanderous accusations and misleading attempts to falsely portray himself as a whistleblower, tellingly made only after Dentons directly confronted him, are as outrageous as they are untrue. Dentons is taking every appropriate step to address Zhang’s blatant misconduct.”

However this matter gets resolved, these filings give an interesting look behind the scenes of the giant firm.


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Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. 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).