The closures affect around 50 lawyers, who will have to transfer to alternative branches. The firm will be closing its offices in
The
The decision comes as part of the integration process following the merger of legacy firms Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae, which went live on 1 October, 2007. The tie-up created a firm with more than 1,400 lawyers in 13 countries and brought the combined firms’ total revenues to just above $1bn (£505m).
Commenting on the move, Dewey chairman Steven Davis (pictured) said: “It is part of our efforts to focus on major commercial and financial centres around the world. It is quite consistent with what we have done in the last few years, closing offices including Pittsburgh, Newark and Salt Lake City. This move is very much along the same lines. None of those were particularly large offices and we want to focus on key centres.”
He added: “The closing of the Austin office is particularly part of our integration plans, with Dewey having had an office in Austin and LeBoeuf an office in Houston. Houston is the key city from an energy sector standpoint. We have said to our Austin people that they are welcome to join that office and in some cases for IP lawyers we suggested other offices, including Palo Alto.”
Last month Dewey boosted its European offering with the hire of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer finance veteran Michel Quere in
Meanwhile, German-based employment specialist Christian Rolf, previously a local partner at Dewey, is to join Willkie Farr & Gallagher in Frankfurt later this month.
