Cadwalader London hit by seven-partner walkout
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has been rocked by the mass walkout of seven London partners to Paul Hastings.
The Lawyer can exclusively reveal that the partners leaving the firm are Karl Clowry, Conor Downey, Michelle Duncan, Justin Jowitt, Tom O’Riordan, Christian Parker and Charles Roberts.
The defections leave US firm Cadwalader with just four partners in London.
An insider suggested the move could prompt Cadwalader to shut down in London altogether: “I’d be bloody surprised if the office was still here this time next year. The office lease is about £2m and none of the partners left bill anything near that.”
It is understood that firm chairman Christopher White (pictured) and former chairman Bob Link have flown in to London from New York for crisis talks with the London partners.
The news comes as Cadwalader reveals a 30 per cent profit plunge, with profit per equity partner (PEP) dropping to $1.88m (£1.24m) from $2.725m (£1.8m) last year (TheLawyer.com, 13 January.)
Paul Hastings did not return calls for comment.
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Readers' comments (16)
HGR | 14-Jan-2009 1:58 pm
Yup
You have to give credit to the crunch.
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Englebert Humperdink | 14-Jan-2009 2:10 pm
CWT Walkout
No surprise really as they were offered positions with Paul Hastings lasy year. You have to feel bad for those who stayed on hoping to ride out the storm. Maybe they were naive but some were just showing misplaced loyalty. Lets see how many associates and others they find the time to help into new positions.
You have to wonder why PH have taken on such a mixed bag of partners though. Real Estate Finance, CMBS, CDOs, Litigation etc... talented lawyers to be sure but don't let them anywhere near a management decision! Sad though as the firm really was a fun place to work in only a year or so ago.
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Burt Bacarach | 14-Jan-2009 3:41 pm
CWT Walkout
A great move by a group of outstanding lawyers. PH will give them a much better platform to grow their practices. Cadwalader never intended to be an international firm and seemed to think that the world could be covered from London which severly limited the ability of these attorneys to truly realise their potential. PH has an outstanding Asian network, an outstanding German office and a well diversified client base. PH now has a credible presence in London and the new group now has a real worldwide platform. And to those follow-ups who will undoubtedly be critical of this post, no, I do not work at Cadwalader or Paul Hastings.
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Anonymous | 14-Jan-2009 3:51 pm
Not surprising
I have a number of friends that are partners at CWT in New York. There are very real concerns about the future of the firm and it is not surprising at all that we've seen a reasonably steady flow of defections in the US and now the UK. Last year was tough for the firm. Judging from what I have been told this year is likely to be even more challenging.
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Insider2 | 14-Jan-2009 3:55 pm
To the insider who said...
...none of the partners left bill anything near £2m.
Angus Duncan might take issue with that. I've heard he even billed that last year.
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Liberace | 14-Jan-2009 4:07 pm
Gem-studded trousers
I agree with my 1970 lounge singer colleagues below, this is a stunning move from Paul Hastings. As long as they find these people enough work to do. I, at least, have my wonderful collection of gem-studded trousers to fall back on in hard times.
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Anonymous | 14-Jan-2009 4:17 pm
London has big problems
The point is Cadwalader can't expect to maintain a London office with just four partners. Chris White is clearly concerned. He wouldn't be in London otherwise.
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Anonymous | 14-Jan-2009 4:31 pm
Cadwalader won't close
They've contemplated closing London in the past. I think they'd be foolish, because they still have residual brand value in restructuring work, and that's such a cash cow.
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Gloria Hunniford | 14-Jan-2009 9:50 pm
Burt
Burt, your email sounds suspiciously likes sales talk. Did you move the team to PH?
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Anonymous | 14-Jan-2009 9:52 pm
Now A Reality Check
Interesting, fanciful, self-serving comments below by those involved. Let's now look at the reality.
These ragtag group of mixed beans had no other option but to find somewhere to go, and quickly. Individually and as a collective these people have had their CVs out since the bottom dropped out of the structured finance market and have been rejected by more firms any of them cares to admit. Even the restructuring/litigation types could not find anywhere of note to go to despite the most significant downturn in living memory.
When a firm' London office does not keep on trainees, out-manages NQs, most of its partners have no work to do, profits are already down by a significant margin, and partners are looking for the nearest exit, the result is inevitable: an opportunistic firm will take on a group of practitioners on a gamble. Notice there is no talk of big money deals or guaranteed packages. Basically an acquisition of distressed assets (or liabilities more accurately).
The only reason White and Link are in London is to try and preserve the disastrous PR. If they can make these people stay - great. If not they will reassure the remainder. Talk of closing the office simply misunderstands the position.
Cadwalader is a house made of green-back whose story is unravelling and this is part of the fall-out, as evidenced by the news about their US bankruptcy chief the other day.
The true position is the good people left Cadwalader's London office a while ago, with Wilkinson the captain who was last to jump the sinking ship. The remainder are unfortunately those who were not quick enough to grab a life-boat and have managed to find a floating piece of wood.
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