Attorneys flee entertainment firm. (Up Front).

A large exodus from the Beverly Hills entertainment boutique Berkowitz & Black PC, which for years represented Frank Sinatra's estate, may result in the firm's dissolution or restructuring.

In the last three months, seven partners have left the firm, starting with former name partner Scott Zolke, who left in May. "The place just exploded, and there's very little left of it," said Richard Wirick, who departed in June for Fainsbert Mase & Snyder LLP in Los Angeles. "The rainmakers, those of us with the business, decided to leave."

On Aug. 1, a second name partner, Daniel Black, will join Greenberg Traurig LLP's entertainment practice, said Jay Cooper, chairman of the firm's entertainment department.

Neither Black, who is still with Berkowitz & Black, nor Jeff Berkowitz returned calls seeking comment.

Berkowitz may dissolve the firm or re-form in a smaller partnership, depending on the firm's overhead costs and lease obligations at 9401 Wilshire Blvd., said one. former partner, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A new firm would likely not focus on entertainment, the partner said.

The departures began when Zolke and another partner joined Loeb & Loeb LLP's entertainment practice, Wirick said. Zolke, whose clients Clear Channel Communications Inc., did not return calls.

Over the ensuing months, another partner left to start his own firm and, in June, Wirick and three other partners joined Fainsberg Mase. This month, Jody Simon, a Berkowitz partner and former director of business affairs at NBC, joined Lord Bissell & Brook.

Berkowitz & Black began in 1991 as the independently operating Beverly Hills branch of Heenan Blaikie LLP, a Montreal firm with 300 attorneys. Heenan Blaikie severed its ties with Beverly Hills, and the partnership began marketing itself under the name Berkowitz Black & Zolke in May 2002, Wirick said.