Last month, a prominent intellectual property partner at Dewey &
LeBoeuf told Casey Sullivan at the Los Angeles Daily Journal
that Dewey was indeed putting off partner shares, but he said it
wasn't a big deal. Such deferred payments, said Henry Bunsow,
are common. "I have confidence that (partners) will be treated
fairly within the parameters of what the firm is dealing with,"
he said. (The Daily Journal story is behind a paywall, but Above the Law has generous excerpts.)
How does Bunsow -- who has an enviable client list and an impressive trial record -- happen to know so much about troubled
firms and deferred partner payments? Because before he joined
Dewey in 2011, he was vice chairman of Howrey. And before that,
in the early 1990s, Bunsow was a partner at Brobeck, Phleger &
Harrison. In case you're not a student of the history of defunct
law firms, Brobeck shut down in January 2003 after failed merger
talks with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Howrey imploded last March
following a stream of partner defections. And we all know that
Dewey has lost scores of partners and (as Reuters has reported)
hired bankruptcy counsel this year. That's quite a tough
history: one partner, two failed law firms and a third in deep
trouble.
Bunsow certainly wasn't responsible for the collapse of
Brobeck or Howrey, and not all of his former firms have met such
unfortunate ends. Before Brobeck, he was a partner at Townsend
and Townsend and Crew, which merged with Kilpatrick Stockton
last year. And between Brobeck and Howrey he did a stint at
Keker & Van Nest, which remains a preeminent litigation
boutique.
Bunsow didn't return my call, but I did speak with his old
friend Hopkins Guy, who recently left Orrick, Herrington &
Sutcliffe to join Baker Botts. Guy said that, whatever happens
at Dewey, he's not worried about Bunsow, who's well known as a
Delaware and East Texas IP trial lawyer. "He's a very good trial
attorney," Guy said. "He's going to land on his feet. Whoever
hires him will be lucky to get him."
(Reporting by Alison Frankel)
Follow us on Twitter: @AlisonFrankel, @ReutersLegal