Covington Group Details Departure from Heller

The Silicon Valley Business Journal has an interesting Heller Ehrman article up. Writer William-Arthur Haynes takes an interest in the move by Roberts Fram and Haslam to Covington & Burling, and a few interesting points that, to our knowledge, had not previously been public record come to light:

• The group, which ended up including 14 partners, approached Covington.
• Haslam says Heller was aware long before the Mayer Brown merger fell through that his group wouldn’t come to Mayer, refuting the notion that a sudden defection by this group killed the Mayer merger and thus, Heller itself.
• Haslam’s group was conflicted out of Baker McKenzie, an earlier potential merger partner, to a greater degree than with Mayer.

While this throws some light on the recent past, the bigger questions are, of course, the future, as groups large and small negotiate their exit from the ruins of the San Francisco institution. CalLaw will be bringing you more on that in the next few days.

—  Brian McDonough