The driven Snow

In what could become the biggest comeback in San Francisco Bay Area legal history, the controversial and charismatic captain of the sinking Brobeck Phleger & Harrison ship, seasoned securities litigator Tower Snow, wants to be a partner at your law firm.

After the collapse of Brobeck and an ill-fated effort to build a West Coast office for Clifford Chance (CC), Snow (pictured) retreated to the verdant hills of Napa Valley to raise his daughter, Morgan.

But law firm sources started telling us a few weeks ago that this handsome ghost of Brobeck past was haunting their hallways, and this week Tower himself confirmed that he is looking for a law firm job.

"Although I love Napa, I miss some things about the city and about the practice," said Snow, 61, who has been working as a consultant from home. "I am going to come back and I'm talking to a number of firms."

There is more than San Francisco nostalgia driving Snow back into the workforce. His daughter, who he has been raising as a single dad, is now almost ten years old and is busy with activities, he said. And there are financial considerations. "Like everyone else, I've been affected by the financial markets. Is that one of a variety of factors? Yes, of course."

Snow had also been looking to raise some cash by putting his palatial Napa Valley estate - 67 lush acres with a 6,000 sq ft Mediterranean-style home complete with pool, spa and wine cellar - on the market. Described by his real estate agent as "the finest view in Napa Valley" and "totally exclusive," the property was up for sale for $8.995m (£6.16m) until Snow recently decided to pull it off the market.

Snow said he is looking forward to coming back to law firm life, even though his exit from the Bay Area legal scene was far more bitter than the most vinegary wine. He led Brobeck to new heights in the tech boom with huge profits per partner and rapid expansion. But his big bet on tech and huge borrowing backfired, and he was booted from the firm as it made the fatal descent after the dotcom bust.

"At the same time I was expelled from the firm I was involved in a traumatic divorce and I saw my net worth vapourise," Snow recalls.

But he puts that all in a positive light now: "As a result of what happened, which wasn't pleasant at the time, it made me focus on what was important in life, and I realised that professional significance paled in comparison to children and what's really important in life."

Snow said he has enjoyed spending time with his daughter, especially making trips with her to countries such as Indonesia, Mexico and Costa Rica to show her that there's a world beyond the wealth and wineries of Napa Valley.

Now, Snow said, he's looking for a job as a securities litigator. He has been talking with a handful of firms, although he would not reveal which ones.

One former Brobeck partner said Snow might have a hard time finding a job because of the former Brobeck lawyers scattered at nearly every firm in the Bay Area. "He has burned a few bridges," the partner said. "People still bear grudges."

But Gary Davis, a recruiter and former Brobeck employee, took the opposite view. Davis said any number of firms would be happy to have a securities litigator of Snow's prominence.

One place that Snow definitely will not be going is Morgan Lewis & Bockius, the firm that took a huge chunk of Brobeck staff, including some of his strongest critics. Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe would certainly be a more friendly place, given that it was the next destination of the group of securities-litigators he took from Brobeck to CC.

"I had detractors and I had ardent supporters at Brobeck," Snow said. "Obviously I would not be interested in a firm that has a large contingent of detractors because I, like everyone else, want to work in a collegial place."

Although Snow said he is not angling for a management role, he conceded that he has been graced with the ability to lead.

"I believe one of my God-given skills is that I'm a builder," Snow said. "What I would like to do is practise and help build other people's practices, and if I can help build other people's practices or offices on the West Coast, that would be great."

This article first appeared in The Recorder, Legal Week's US sister title. 

For more, see California scheming: inside CC’s Brobecks raid.