Lawyers may flee restructuring at Arter & Hadden. (Up Front).Attorneys at the local offices of Arter & Hadden LLP LLP - Lower Layer Protocol began sending out their resumes after the firm's Cleveland-based executive committee met June 16 to discuss ways in which to restructure the firm. Firm Chairman Dan Bailey declined to address specific restructuring options, but said that the firm was seeking to renegotiate re·ne·go·ti·ate tr.v. re·ne·go·ti·at·ed, re·ne·go·ti·at·ing, re·ne·go·ti·ates 1. To negotiate anew. 2. To revise the terms of (a contract) so as to limit or regain excess profits gained by the contractor. long-term office leases, its largest fixed cost. Several local attorneys aren't sticking around to see which offices make the cut. "There are people A partners, associates and staff A who are actively looking," said Julie Stamato, a former Arter partner now at Miller & Holguin. She said some former colleagues had contacted her about moving in the past two weeks. "Bottom line is, they're not so confident it may work out, and they're exploring other options in case it doesn't. Nobody wants to be the last one standing." Bart Kessel, managing partner of the L.A. office, did not return phone calls. The 250-attorney firm opened in L.A. by merging with Lawler Felix & Hall in 1990. It has 37 attorneys, including 17 partners, at its downtown office. The firm also has seven attorneys in Woodland Hills, 24 in Irvine, four in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. and 13 in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . On June 16, the firm's executive committee in Cleveland met to consider various restructuring options. Bailey said the firm took on too much office space as part of a rapid growth spurt growth spurt Pediatrics A period of rapid growth in middle adolescence; ♀ ↑ ±8 cm/yr ±age 12; ♂ ↑ ±10 cm/yr ± age 14; GS is orderly, affecting acral parts–ie, hands and feet grow before proximal regions, in the late 1 990s that has been followed by an equally rapid reduction. Since 1999, the firm has lost more than a third of its lawyers, either by resignations or layoffs, Bailey said. "We've had a fairly significant contraction, but we are left with a lot of overhead," he said. "It's a matter of matching up our cost structure with the size of the firm we are now." Michael Waldorf, a legal recruiter and president of Waldorf Associates Inc., said Arter & Hadden's local office, primarily a litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. shop, still has profits below $300,000 per partner, well under the competitive standard in L.A., he said. That could make the job prospects for its attorneys more limited than they were for the 47 L.A. attorneys at Brubeck Phelger & Harrison LLP, which dissolved dis·solve v. dis·solved, dis·solv·ing, dis·solves v.tr. 1. To cause to pass into solution: dissolve salt in water. 2. in February, he said. "Brobeck had huge debts, and I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. that Arter's are as high," he said. "But Brobeck had more people with a considerable practice." |
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