118 Year Old Heller Ehrman reportedly sets vote to dissolve

Heller Ehrman LLP, a 118-year-old law firm that was among the most prestigious in San Francisco, is expected to dissolve this week.

Partners at the firm will vote to disband Friday, according to the legal newspaper the Recorder. Firm Chairman Matt Larrabee told the 570-attorney firm that dissolution was unavoidable, the newspaper reported.

Hit by partner defections and slumping revenue, Heller sought a merger partner to buoy its fortunes. The firm had talks withMayer Brown LLP, Winston & Strawn LLP and Baker & McKenzie LLP but no deal emerged. Client conflicts were often cited as stumbling blocks.

But other barriers to mergers arose as partners continued fleeing the firm. As Heller was talking with Mayer Brown, for example, 15 attorneys in Heller’s prized intellectual property practice decided to move to join Covington & Burling LLP and launch that firm’s Silicon Valley office.

About 35 partners have abandoned Heller since January, leaving the firm with about 200 partners with equity stakes in the firm. The firm has 370 salaried associate attorneys.

Heller was suffering a slump in revenue. The firm reported 2007 revenue was $491 million, down from $507 million in 2006. The downturn — attributed to several major litigation cases wrapping up within a short period last year — contrasts with several rival firms where revenue rose.

A Heller partner said the firm expects to collect at least 90 percent of an estimated $118 million in accounts receivable, the Recorder reported. Heller has about $6 million in cash, according to that partner, who was not named.

In addition to its headquarters in San Francisco, Heller has 13 offices across the country and overseas, including Beijing, Hong Kong and London.

Heller’s roots stretch back to 1890 in San Francisco when attorney Emanuel Heller opened a law practice on Sansome Street. Some of the firm’s noteworthy Bay Area legal work includes negotiating financing for the San Francisco Bay Bridge; a Heller lawyer was general counsel for the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. In the 1970s the firm took Levi Strauss & Co. public and later, in 1985, took the clothing maker private through a leveraged buyout.

Source: BizJournal.com

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