96 jobs to go as Dewey put into administration
ALMOST 100 London employees of defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf were made redundant yesterday, after its UK and Paris operations were put into administration.
The City firm’s US parent company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection late on Monday night, marking the end to weeks of turmoil at the 103-year-old law firm.
The UK operation, which is run as a separate entity to the US firm, has appointed BDO as administrators.
“D&L UK has generated significant profits, but it could not escape the serious issues which have affected the Dewey & LeBoeuf global business,” BDO restructuring partner Mark Shaw said yesterday.
“The diligent planning which has taken place so far will allow for an ongoing orderly wind-down during administration,” he added.
The UK redundancies hit a total of 96 employees, including all the firm’s remaining lawyers. BDO said a skeleton of 12 support staff had been kept on to help the administrators.
Both D&L UK and D&L Services – a subsidiary that provided staff and infrastructure to the firm – ceased trading yesterday.
But Dewey’s major clients are unlikely to be too adversely affected, as the bulk of the firm’s partners have left in recent week to join rival law firms.
The full list of UK creditors has not been released yet, but is believed to include the landlords of Dewey’s London offices in Mincing Lane close to Fenchurch Street.
The collapse of Dewey LeBoeuf is the biggest failure of a law firm in history, with 25 offices affected around the world.
The firm made global revenues of approximately $800m in the years leading up to the filing, but was weighed down by debt commitments of up to $225m.
“Unlike most other Chapter 11 cases, this filing does not anticipate a return to business but rather a managed wind-down of affairs, followed by liquidation,” the US firm said in a statement.
The US operation has hired Joff Mitchell of Zolfo Cooper as restructuring chief and Albert Togut of Togut Segal & Segal as its bankruptcy counsel.