McDonough, Holland & Allen, one of Sacramento’s largest law firms, will wind down operations this summer, according to a statement issued Friday by the firm’s chief executive officer.
Edward Quinn Jr. said the 80-lawyer firm, with offices in downtown Sacramento and Oakland, would try to merge with another firm or perhaps spin off practice groups. But the firm as an entity will no longer exist, Quinn said.
"We'll have a different name, or maybe a very similar name to what we have now, but it will not be the same firm," Quinn said in the three-paragraph statement.
A number of McDonough Holland attorneys serve as counsel to smaller cities and government agencies in the Sacramento region. But the firm has been plagued in recent months by significant departures. In March, a 10-attorney group focused on health care decamped for DLA Piper. It included partners Stephen Goff, Marcia Augsburger, John Barnes and Brian Taylor. Goff and Augsburger had spent 20 years each at McDonough. Barnes and Taylor were junior shareholders.
At the time, Quinn downplayed the departures. "We are losing our managed-care litigation practice, but all other aspects of our health care practice are up and running," Quinn told The Recorder then.
On Friday, he said, "During the last few months, it has become clear that, for a variety of reasons, some attorneys and attorney groups are interested in moving in different directions, and the firm, as currently organized, will no longer be viable for the long term.
"Acknowledging this reality," he added, "is a deep loss for the entire McDonough family."
The firm also lost two of its founding partners over the last year. Bruce Allen, who founded McDonough Holland’s health care practice and was a behind-the-scenes player in Sacramento politics, died in September. Al Holland, a tax law specialist, died in May.
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