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Seven Kirkland Bankruptcy Lawyers Switch to Jones Day
The American Lawyer
May 28, 2009
It's no secret that bankruptcy and restructuring lawyers are in heavy demand these days, and the seven lawyers who left the Los Angeles office of Kirkland & Ellis for rival Jones Day are no different.
"We certainly had a lot of feelers within the past year from many different firms and recruiters," says Richard "Rick" Wynne, the former head of Kirkland's West Coast restructuring group.
On Wednesday Jones Day announced that Wynne, partner Bennett Spiegel, of counsel Erin Brady, and Lori Sinanyan, and associates Christopher Healey, Stacie Torres and Lance Miller would join the firm. All will work in Jones Day's Los Angeles office except Miller, who is based in New York. The lateral hires leave Kirkland with only three restructuring lawyers in L.A.
According to Am Law 100 financial data, Jones Day saw gross revenue increase 6.9 percent to $1.54 billion last year; profits per equity partner increased 3.2 percent to $810,000. Kirkland also posted a 6.9 percent increase in gross revenue to $1.4 billion, but profits per equity partner were substantially higher at $2.47 million. (Jones Day has a single-tier partnership, while Kirkland has both equity and non-equity partners.)
Wynne says the idea of leaving Kirkland had been "percolating" in his head for six months, but that he and the other lawyers were only interested in moving as a group.
"We've been doing a lot of bondholder and creditors' committee-type work for the past several years and Jones Day is very interested in developing that practice on a national front," Wynne says. "We thought that would help us gel a little bit better."
Although many of the latest bankruptcy cases have been coming out of Delaware and New York, Wynne says he's been encouraged by Jones Day's commitment to developing its presence in the California market -- the firm has five offices in the state.
The addition of Wynne's team, which has roots in the Los Angeles bankruptcy boutique of Wynne Spiegel Itkin that joined Kirkland in June 2001, allows Jones Day to revamp its restructuring operations on the West Coast. (Jones Day currently only has three bankruptcy partners in its San Francisco office.)
Wynne has handled debtors' counsel assignments for bankrupt insurance company Conseco as well as representing a group of 400 lenders who held $4.3 billion in bank debt for now-defunct cable company Adelphia Communications Corporation.
He also represented the creditors' committee in the Chapter 11 case of Williams Communications, during which he developed a close relationship with his opposing counsel: Jones Day bankruptcy bigwig Corinne Ball.
Wynne already knew Ball but the Williams Communications bankruptcy brought the two closer together, laying the groundwork for the lateral move to Jones Day. (The company successfully emerged from bankruptcy and was later sold to Level 3 Communications.)
"Corinne certainly is a big motivating factor for us being here today," says Wynne, adding that he began discussions with Ball about the move at the beginning of this year.
Wynne's rapport with Ball plus his relationships with other Jones Day lawyers like restructuring practice founding partner David Heiman in Cleveland and litigation partner Brian Sun in L.A. precluded the need for a recruiter.
Wynne says he traded phone calls with current Kirkland restructuring co-head Richard "Rick" Cieri, a former Jones Day bankruptcy lawyer, about the move and that Cieri only had "good things to say" about his former firm. Wynne also spoke with Kirkland's other bankruptcy honcho, James "Jamie" Sprayregen, before leaving. (A Kirkland spokeswoman says the firm wouldn't have an immediate comment about the defections.)
"It's a small community," Wynne says. "We all know each other and we'll continue to work together."
Wynne's colleague Spiegel also brings plenty of bankruptcy expertise with him to Jones Day.
Spiegel managed the Kirkland restructuring team in the Chapter 11 case of Houston-based power producer Calpine Corporation, which filed for bankruptcy in 2005 and emerged three years later.
During those three years, bankruptcy court records show that Calpine paid Kirkland more than $110 million in fees and expenses. The firm also waived nearly $3 million in fees and expenses. Wynne and Spiegel billed between $775 and $815 per hour in the Calpine case, while Sinanyan topped out at a $605 hourly rate. (Sinanyan and Brady were partners at Kirkland but will join Jones Day in of counsel roles.)
Wynne and his team are taking several high-profile assignments with them to Jones Day, including representing the bondholders committee owed roughly $2.5 billion in the out-of-court restructuring of Las Vegas-based Station Casinos. Wynne says he's also still busy working for the lenders committee in the Adelphia case.
So busy, in fact, that he doesn't anticipate getting involved in the Chrysler bankruptcy, which is being handled by a Jones Day team on the East Coast. At least not yet anyway.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
