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Leadership in Law: What Causes a Big Firm to Implode?

By Timothy B. Corcoran

By now, we've all heard of the demise of Dewey LeBoeuf, the several-year-old combination of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb Green & MacRae. Earlier this year, over the course of several months, various actions taken by the firm's partners, past partners, creditors and bankers led to a dissolution and bankruptcy filing with no prospect of revival. Yes, large law firm lawyers earn a lot of money, and yes the market currently has an oversupply of large law firm lawyers, but it's nonetheless extraordinarily sad when law firms implode.

Curiously, I've discussed this episode many times in recent months with large law firm lawyers, and while all feel badly for their comrades, almost without exception all feel their own firm is uniquely situated, collegial and immune from the sorts of things that led to Dewey's demise. Sadly, this isn't true. So what are the likely and repeatable root causes of such a debacle that other law firms should monitor?

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