Attorneys who left prominent law firm start own practice.

Attorneys who left prominent law firm start own practice

Several lawyers who defected earlier this year from the Los Angeles office of Shea & Gould last week rejoined forces and opened a law firm of their own.

Establishment of the new firm -- Gold, Marks, Ring & Pepper -- comes after a dramatic exodus from the local office of old-line, New York-based Shea & Gould.

Six months ago, Shea & Gould had one of the largest law offices in Los Angeles County, with some 75 lawyers and 24 partners.

But dissension over the way the New York headquarters divided the firm's 1988 profits with its West Coast colleagues led to mass defections in Los Angeles.

The L.A. partners also balked at not being represented on the firm's New York executive committee.

Shea & Gould's Los Angeles office now consists of four associate lawyers and no partners.

Lessing Gold, former managing partner of Shea & Gould's L.A. office, is now the lead partner of Gold, Marks. He was reluctant last week to talk about the pay dispute and subsequent exodus.

"We have a continuing relationship with Shea & Gould, and I really don't want to say anything that might jeopardize that," he said.

Gold, Marks has set up shop in the same Century City offices formerly occupied by Shea & Gould. The new law firm leased back a portion of that space to Shea & Gould's remaining four lawyers.

"They refer a lot of their Los Angeles business to us. And when we get New York business, we refer it to them," Gold said.

Such cooperative efforts are a far cry from the acrimony that has existed between Shea & Gould and its former L.A. partners a short time ago.

Shea & Gould broke into the Los Angeles market in 1985 by acquiring the local law firm Pacht, Ross, Warne, Bernhard & Sears. It merged later that year with Gold, Herscher, Marks & Pepper -- which had three of the same nameplate partners as the new firm established last week.

Shea & Gould's expansion-by-acquisition seemed to go well at first, with the firm expanding from 45 lawyers in 1986 to 77 lawyers earlier this year. Some of the area's most prominent attorneys joined the firm, including former Paramount Pictures Corp. co-chairman Bernard Donnenfeld and land-use expert Douglas Ring.

The L.A. office started contributing hefty profits to its home office in New York, leading Shea & Gould to post a 51 percent increase in fiscal 1988 revenues compared with fiscal 1987. Profit per partner was reported to be $360,000.

But the firm's L.A. partners balked when they were given profit shares reported to be 10 percent to 30 percent below those of their New York counterparts.

In March, the exodus began with 18 of Shea & Gould's L.A. lawyers defecting to establish a Los Angeles office for another large New York-based law firm, Myerson & Kuhn.

Shea & Gould's L.A. office has now apparently hit its nadir. The firm is planning to try staffing up its Century City presence once again.

"There is a need presently to increase the L.A. office, and we will," said Thomas Constance, a partner in Shea & Gould's New York headquarters. "We hope to add some more lawyers before the end of the year, and to continue in the same general practice area we had previously -- litigation, labor, health care and entertainment."

Shea & Gould has two litigation lawyers and two labor attorneys in L.A.

Regarding the firm's L.A. exodus and charges of unfair profit distribution, said, "I am really not interested in discussing history which is totally unimportant. Mr. Gold and his partners are very fine people and very fine lawyers. Our relationship is excellent."

Gold, Marks, Ring & Pepper specialize in the areas of corporate law, litigation, real estate law, entertainment and fine arts, and trusts and estates counsel.

The nameplate partners are: Lessing Gold, former managing partner of Shea & Gould's L.A. office and recent appointee to the Lieutenant Governor's Commission on Economic Development; Stephen Marks, former co-chairman of Shea & Gould's litigation department; Douglas Ring, former chairman of Shea & Gould's real estate department; and Alan Pepper, an expert in telecommunications law.

Five other former Shea & Gould partners joining the new firm are: Stephen Kramer, Bernard Donnenfeld, Michael Koomer, Joel Schiff and Elliot Shelton.