Legal News

Slowly, a Howrey Resolution Starts to Come into Focus

By Ashby Jones

We’ve been blogging about Howrey situation for some time now, with most of the posts simply reporting the news of more partner defections from the firm.

But now it appears the endgame might be in sight.

The Recorder late last week wrote up this story, which outlined how it all might go down.

According to the story, management from Winston & Strawn — long reported to be working on a tie-up with Howrey — agreed on the structure of a deal which would bring aboard Howrey attorneys.  Friday, Winston held a partner meeting to discuss the terms ahead of a partnership vote, which was expected to begin as early as today and possibly last through the weekend.

Former Howrey lawyers say that Winston is likely to get most of the Houston office and parts of the antitrust group in D.C.

According to the story, “the next few days appear to be crucial for the deal.”

One issue that's in play is the matter of the prestigious Howrey name. A former Howrey lawyer in California said Winston might pay $2 million or more for the Howrey moniker. The goal had been to name the new firm Winston Howrey, but one lawyer told the Recorder that that price seemed low.

" "I actually think the Howrey name is worth more like $20 million in terms of client recognition and good will," the lawyer said.

In other Howrey-related news, the Washington Post on Monday offered up this dissection of the Howrey demise.

The issues that plagued Howrey are myriad, according to the story: too-rapid growth, a prolonged legal-recession and the run-on-the-bank phenomenon that often hits firms in trouble. Regardless of how badly a firm is suffering, lawyers leave, not wanting to be the last one left to turn off the lights. And slowly perception turns into reality.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 28, 2011 (boomark / email).