Biglaw, Lateral Moves, Partner Issues

What The K&L Is Going On? More Partners Pass Through The Gates

Where are these partners going, and what does their leaving say about the future of the firm?

By  
on

Entrance door of Fort CanningWe ended last week with news of K&L Gates partner departures, and we’ll start this week with more of the same. Here’s the latest news, via the American Lawyer:

In one of the largest mass lateral moves between two Am Law 100 firms in recent months, 10 partners have left K&L Gates in Washington, D.C., for rival Mayer Brown.

The moves cut deeply into K&L Gates’ consumer credit compliance and enforcement practice, which had already lost five partners to Mayer Brown earlier this month. Factoring in 15 associates, a counsel and a staff attorney who are also making the jump, 32 K&L Gates lawyers have now left for Mayer Brown, including 24 in Washington, two in Palo Alto, California, and one in Houston.

The earlier group joining included the leader of the practice at K&L Gates, Steven Kaplan, and its previous head, Laurence Platt. Among those now joining them is Ori Lev, a former enforcement chief at the Office of Foreign Assets Control and a former deputy enforcement director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Lev joined K&L Gates last March.

So Lev’s time at K&L was… short-lived. The other lawyers joining Mayer Brown as partners are Costas “Gus” Avrakotos, David Beam, Holly Spencer Bunting, Krista Cooley, Eric Edwardson, Kristie Kully, Lauren Bergen Pryor, Stephanie Robinson, and David Tallman. According to Bloomberg BNA, all were partners at K&L Gates except for Bergen Pryor, who was an associate at KLG.

What to make of all this movement? Here is one ATL tipster’s take:

[Your recent article] wondered whether the KLG departures mattered. These were some of the most lucrative practice groups in the firm. [Steven] Kaplan, [Laurence] Platt, [Alan] Goldberg, [David] Glatz, [Michael] Abernathy, and [Paul] Genender were all high-dollar equity partners. They all decided to leave even though the firm is getting a large contingency payment from the CMU/Marvell litigation later this year [which ended with Marvell Technology Group agreeing to pay a $750 million settlement to Carnegie Mellon University]. They all stood to receive a payout from that but chose to leave and will get nothing.

Also your article did not mention Genender leaving Dallas — a serious blow for the office, which was decimated by departures last year. Like Chicago, the Dallas office is in serious trouble. The firm had to delay funding 401k plans for partners (moved from March to May/June). It also had to push back matching payments for staff until after the summer.

With all the departures, the firm is not likely to meet its financial goals this year, and only the CMU settlement will make the year look good on paper in December. But that is a one-shot deal and can’t be replicated. A lot of partners have figured that out, hence the mass departures.

We ran all this by K&L Gates. The firm declined to comment.

But we welcome your comments, dear readers. You can contact us by email or by text message (646-820-8477). Thanks.

Sponsored

K&L Gates Losses Continue as 10 More Partners Join Mayer Brown [Am Law Daily]
K&L Gates Departures Mount as 10 Partners Join Mayer Brown [Big Law Business / Bloomberg BNA]
10 more K&L Gates partners join Mayer Brown [ABA Journal]
Mayer Brown adds 26-lawyer team to Consumer Financial Services group [Mayer Brown (press release)]

Earlier: The Latest Departures Through The K&L Gates
More Departures From The K&L Gates; Do They Matter?
Barbarians At The K&L Gates?

Sponsored

Topics

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,