Dewey & LeBoeuf Faces Administration

The firm’s UK limited liability partnerships was put into administration at around 2pm two days ago, with both the London and Paris offices stopping trading at that time. 96 staff has been made redundant in the London office whilst 12 support staff remain to assist administrators with the wind-down.

The firm was formed less than five years ago through a merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae. The firm blames its demise on  the recession, also acknowledging overambitious growth and the lucrative pay guarantees it offered to high-profile lateral hires as contributing factors.

In the previous months, there had been a mass partner exodus and a number of the 96 redundant staff have found new jobs with the partners at their new firms.  15 of the firm’s 20 trainees have found new positions and the majority of those who were expecting to join the firm in September 2012 and March 2013 have secured other placements.

It’s the final nail in the coffin of the drama that has been dominating the legal headlines over the past month, leading Legal Week to claim that Dewey is “the world’s largest legal failure”.