Thelen Launches Dissolution Vote

Updates:

• Nixon Peabody wants about 60 Thelen lawyers. See the Cal Law story.
• Thelen has issued a press release about the dissolution vote. Details woven into the story below, or read it in full here.
• Former Thelen Chairman Richard Gary points to the failed merger and discusses current leadership here.
• The latest: We name the members of the wind-down committee here.
  

San Francisco law firm Thelen is holding a dissolution vote, and management expects the firm to be gone by December.

Thelen's Partnership Council recommended today that the firm’s partnership vote to dissolve the firm, the firm's spokesman confirmed.

Management asked the partnership to vote for dissolution during a partner meeting that began at 10:00 a.m. PST and lasted over two hours. The vote will remain open for seven days and the firm hopes to shut down by Dec. 1.

According to a press release issued by the firm this afternoon:

The decision to dissolve the firm was precipitated by several economic factors, including recessionary pressures and numerous partner departures over the past year, both of which have negatively impacted firm revenues. For the past several months, Thelen management has aggressively sought a full firm merger. Unfortunately, the most promising merger opportunity was derailed by conflicts, and all other full firm merger discussions terminated last week.

The release says the firm is seeking to pay its employees for 60 days, in compliance with federal law, but so far its bank will only pony up half that. A three-partner dissolution committee has been formed, it says.

The 84-year-old San Francisco-based firm consummated a merger with New York’s Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner in late 2006, but that has since been widely viewed as problematic. Name partners Peter Brown, Richard Raysman and Jeffrey Steiner — and more than 100 other lawyers — have left the now-roughly 400-lawyer firm this year.

More recently, since merger discussions with Nixon Peabody died several weeks ago, it had become clear that various groups from Thelen were talking to other firms about lateralling, including rainmaking energy partner Ellen Bastier and firm Chairman Stephen O’Neal.

Only a month ago, fellow San Francisco stalwart Heller Ehrman decided to dissolve. In a worsening economy, observers fear that more firms nationwide may face such dire decisions.

Check back here and at Cal Law for updates throughout the day.

Related: What's the deal with S.F. firms, anyway?

— Niraj Chokshi