Louisiana-based McGlinchey Stafford rang within the new yr by announcing it would shut down, leaving many attorneys “scrambling for jobs” within the wake of the midsize agency’s sudden choice to wind down. Some, nonetheless, had been fortunate sufficient to be a part of a just lately introduced group lateral transfer to a transatlantic Biglaw agency — one which’s been within the works since early December.
Womble Bond Dickinson — a agency that introduced in $612,200,000 gross income in 2024, placing it at No. 92 on the Am Legislation 100 — is bringing on a 36-member group from the soon-to-shutter McGlinchey, together with 19 attorneys (11 companions, three counsels, and 5 associates) and 17 licensing professionals from the agency’s client monetary companies group. The American Lawyer has extra particulars on what this implies for Womble:
[T]he group’s transfer permits Womble to open new places of work in Albany, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio—the place it already employed some attorneys—and brings Womble’s complete to 31 places of work within the U.S. and 39 globally. It additionally expands current places of work in Houston, Washington, D.C. and Irvine, California, agency officers mentioned.
Whereas a number of different attorneys had already deliberate their exits, was this group departure the straw that broke the camel’s again when it got here to McGlinchey’s choice to shut up store? Though the agency acknowledged that “a quantity” of attorneys had just lately introduced plans to depart, managing member Michael Ferachi mentioned that its choice wasn’t attributable to “any particular lawyer’s departure.” Merrick Benn, Womble’s U.S. chair, advised Am Law that his agency’s talks with the incoming McGlinchey group began on December 8 and the deal was finalized by December 26. A bit a couple of week later, McGlinchey’s fairness members voted to wind down. As famous by Reuters, Mark Edelman, chief of the group that decamped for Womble, “declined to remark” on the timing of the transfer, as did a spokesperson for McGlinchey.
McGlinchey’s collapse closed one chapter, whereas Womble Bond Dickinson opened a number of new ones — an more and more frequent dynamic in a authorized market that rewards scale, and a troublesome one for the attorneys and workers left navigating an abrupt ending.
Law firm Womble adds 19 lawyers from shuttering firm [Reuters]
Womble Bond Dickinson Adds 19 Lawyers from McGlinchey, Expands into Midwest and Upstate NY [American Lawyer]
Earlier: Midsize Firm Kicks Off The New Year By Announcing Plans To Close Its Doors
Staci Zaretsky is the managing editor of Above the Legislation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be at liberty to email her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You possibly can comply with her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join along with her on LinkedIn.
