ALBANY – The hourly fees earned on client matters that attorneys take with them when switching firms are not the “property” or the “unfinished business” of their old partnerships, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in a closely watched case involving the bankruptcies of Thelen and Coudert Brothers.
The unanimous court said finding that lawyers owe a continuing obligation to their old partnerships for work they do for clients after moving to new firms “does not comport with our profession’s traditions and the commercial realities of the practice of law today.”
