Drew Eckl & Farnham, a 95-lawyer firm founded in Atlanta, has been waging a months-long arbitration battle with two former partners, who in recent months have moved the disagreement over who gets a cut of contingency fees to state court. The former partners have claimed that an “exodus” of lawyers is also leaving the firm due to inadequate compensation.

The battle reveals disagreements over the firm’s practices and compensation, in an unusually candid look at an internal firm conflict that poses questions about the future of a longtime Atlanta firm. The former partners say the dispute is a “death rattle of a once great but now failing law firm.”