What happens when a law firm breakup combines self-help with firm funds, weaponized billing practices, a fatal deemed admission, and a federal court’s refusal to entertain dissolution? Ballon Stoll gives us the answer—and several cautionary lessons.
One might assume that pending legal matters at the time of a law partnership’s dissolution are firm assets or property. Not so, held the New York Court of Appeals in a ruling that practically guarantees prolonged litigation over the correct valuation and allocation of contingency fee cases when law partnerships dissolve. Read about one recent example in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
This week’s post shows that when it comes to business valuations, a little air adds lift—but too much and credibility goes pop.
Just a few weeks ago, I commented on a recent uptick in disputes centered on the breakup of professional services firms. In those disputes, we expect that the demands of the legal, accounting, and medical professions draw individuals with keen attention to detail, focused on documentation, and prepared for all contingencies. Less expected is the irony that many attorneys, accountants, and medical professionals fail to bring those attributes to the table when organizing their business relationships.
The result of that failure is a tinderbox—poorly defined “partnership” relationships, mixed with high profit margins, difficult to value businesses, and type A owners willing to litigate their disputes. The right spark triggers bitter and hotly contested litigation. That part-legal, part-psychological phenomenon explains why business divorces of professional services corporations—especially law firms—can get complicated fast.
Motivated by that uptick, Becky Baek and I were pleased to recently present a CLE on the complexities that arise in the dissolution or breakup of law firms. Here are the highlights.
Continue Reading Special Considerations for Law Firm Breakups
A law firm with high-upside contingency-fee cases that accepted payment in cryptocurrency tokens might be one of the most difficult companies to value. This week’s post explores a recent SDNY decision on such a company.
Continue Reading When Law Firms Break Bad: The Valuation Battle Over Contingency Fees and Crypto Tokens
How does one value a law firm’s caseload at dissolution? The litigation over the dissolution of Brown Chiari LLP has already made its mark on business divorce jurisprudence. As it approaches its sixth birthday, the case continues to deliver, with Erie County Commercial Division Justice Timothy J. Walker recently authoring two notable decisions concerning a partner’s interest in the firm’s substantial caseload at the time of its dissolution.
Continue Reading Disputes Abound When Law Firms Dissolve
If a Schedule K-1 lists you or your client as a “general partner” and 2% owner of a partnership, is that the end of the story for proving ownership status? This week, we consider that question in the context of a long-running litigation between a well-known insurance litigation firm and its former “partner” over his standing to sue to dissolve the business.
Continue Reading The Law Firm “Partner”- A Rose by Any Other Name . . .
A Manhattan appellate panel recently ordered a trial in a suit between the estate of a deceased law firm partner and the surviving partner over whether the latter’s post-death admission of a new partner was part of an alleged “sham” transaction designed to defeat the estate’s entitlement to receive half the firm’s assets upon dissolution and liquidation. You won’t want to miss it in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
Continue Reading Court in Law Firm Dissolution Suit Must Decide, Was Partnership a “Sham”?
This week’s New York Business Divorce examines a noteworthy decision by Justice Richard Platkin involving the break-up of a law firm organized as a professional services limited liability company, in which the court addressed the potential liability of two members to buy out a third member’s interest after they withdrew from the firm.
Continue Reading Forced to Buy Out Law Partner’s Interest In Defunct Firm, Years After Withdrawing? It Can Happen
This week’s New York Business Divorce features a pair of recent decisions by New York and Delaware courts addressing disputes between accounting firms and departing partners over entitlement to buy-out payments. Both are highly interesting decisions, especially for anyone involved in drafting agreements for professional firms.
Continue Reading New York and Delaware Courts Decide Disputes Over Accounting Firm Buyouts