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Former Brobeck Chairman Tower Snow Seeks Return to Firm Life
The Recorder
December 05, 2008
He's baaaaack.
In what could become the biggest comeback in San Francisco Bay Area legal history, the controversial and charismatic captain of the sinking Brobeck ship, the seasoned securities litigator ... you guessed it: Tower Snow Jr. wants to be a partner at your law firm.
After the collapse of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and an ill-fated effort to build a West Coast office for London's Clifford Chance, Snow retreated to the verdant hills of Napa Valley to raise his daughter, Morgan. For 3 1/2 years no one saw neither hide nor hair of him, except perhaps a fleeting glance on the slopes at Tahoe.
But law firm sources started telling us a few weeks ago that this handsome ghost of Brobeck past was haunting their hallways, and this week Tower himself confirmed that he is looking for a law firm job.
"Although I love Napa, I miss some things about the city and about the practice," said Snow, 61, who's been working as a consultant from home. "I am going to come back and I'm talking to a number of firms."
There's more than San Francisco nostalgia that's driving Snow back into the workforce. His daughter, who he's been raising as a single dad, is now 9 1/2 and is busy with activities, he said. Oh yeah, and he needs a little dough. "Like everyone else, I've been affected by the financial markets. Is that one of a variety of factors? Yes, of course."
Looks like Snow also had been looking to raise some cash by putting his palatial Napa Valley estate -- 67 lush acres with a 6,000-square-foot, Mediterranean-style home complete with pool, spa and wine cellar -- on the market. Described by his real estate agent, Dotty Hopkins, as "the finest view in Napa Valley" and "totally exclusive," the place was going for $8.995 million until Snow decided to pull it off the market recently, the Realtor said. (Snow said the house is too big.)
Snow said he's looking forward to coming back to law firm life, even though his exit from the Bay Area legal scene was far more bitter than the most vinegary wine. He led Brobeck to new heights in the tech boom with huge profits per partner and rapid expansion. But his big bet on tech and huge borrowing backfired, and he was booted from the firm as it made the fatal descent after the dot-com bust.
"At the same time I was expelled from the firm I was involved in a traumatic divorce and I saw my net worth vaporize," Snow recalls.
But he puts that all in a positive light now: "As a result of what happened, which wasn't pleasant at the time, it made me focus on what was important in life, and I realized that professional significance paled in comparison to children and what's really important in life."
Snow said he's enjoyed spending time with his daughter, especially making trips with her to "Third World" countries like Indonesia, Mexico and Costa Rica to show her that there's a world beyond the wealth and wineries of Napa Valley.
Now, Snow said, he's looking for a job as a securities litigator. He's hired recruiter Chuck Fanning from Major, Lindsey & Africa and he's been talking with a handful of firms, although he wouldn't reveal which ones.
One former Brobeck partner said Snow might have a hard time finding a job because of the former Brobeck lawyers scattered at nearly every firm in the Bay Area. "He's burned a few bridges," the partner said. "I think people still bear grudges."
But Gary Davis, a recruiter and former Brobeckian, took the opposite view. Davis said any number of firms would be happy to have a securities litigator of Snow's prominence.
One place that Snow definitely won't be going is Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the firm that took a huge chunk of Brobeck people, including some of his strongest critics. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe would certainly be a more friendly place. That's where all his securities-litigator buddies he took from Brobeck to Clifford Chance ended up.
"I had detractors and I had ardent supporters at Brobeck," Snow said. "Obviously I wouldn't be interested in a firm that has a large contingent of detractors because I, like everyone else, want to work in a collegial place."
Although Snow said he's not angling for a management gig, he conceded that he's been graced with the ability to lead.
"I believe one of my God-given skills is that I'm a builder," Snow said. "What I'd like to do is practice and help build other people's practices, and if I can help build other people's practices or offices on the West Coast, that would be great."
