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| After 118 years, struggling San Francisco law firm Heller Ehrman has dissolved in a partnership vote. The firm operated four outposts in Asia, with offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore in addition to its sizeable US presence. Trouble set in for the firm as early as 2007, when the firm was reported to have suffered declines in revenue, revenue per lawyer and profits per partner. In that year and the year that followed, a steady stream of partners began departing the firm.
While not entirely certain where the various practice groups and offices might end up, attorneys in Heller’s Venture Law Group (acquired by the firm in 2003) have been in talks with a number of suitors, including Cooley Godward Kronish; Morrison & Foerster; Fenwick & West; Wilson Sonsini; Goodrich & Rosati and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Meanwhile, former merger candidates Baker & McKenzie and Winston & Strawn are said to be leading current contenders to take on a sizeable portion of the now defunct firm. |
