While Stroock Stroock & Lavan’s dissolution was announced shortly after the firm voted to allow most partners to join Hogan Lovells, the firm’s collapse and the events that facilitated it were years in the making, sources say.

Each one of Stroock’s challenges—a troublesome pension obligation that was removed too late; waves of large partner departures; poor merger negotiations; and a burdensome accounting system—would hobble any law firm. But Stroock faced them all, contributing to the fall of a 147-year-old firm.