Partners Lead Mass Defection From Biglaw Firm, With Up To 140 Lawyers Set To Join New Boutique

When it comes to Biglaw trends, the past year or so has taught us that group lateral moves are here to stay. Whether it's an entire practice group heading to greener pastures at a competitor firm or a group of colleagues leaving to start their own firm, this is something that should be on everyone's radar if it somehow isn't already.

Today's big news on that front is that Lewis Brisbois -- a 1,700-lawyer firm that brought in $703,000,000 gross revenue in 2022, putting it at No. 70 in the most recent Am Law 100 -- will be losing up to 140 attorneys thanks to a large group of partners leaving to start a new firm.

John Barber, a 25-year veteran of the firm, is joining Jeff Ranen, a 20-year veteran of the firm, to start their own employment boutique, Barber Ranen, alongside several of their colleagues. Barber and Ranen served as chair and vice chair of the Lewis Brisbois employment practices group, and both were member of the firm's management committee.

Ranen said that as of this morning, he has about 118 signed offer letters from lawyers at Lewis Brisbois, but wouldn't be surprised if between 125 and 140 lawyers make the decision to join Barber Ranen. All of these lawyers hail from the Lewis Brisbois employment group.

Asked why they decided to start their own firm, Barber said, "Jeff and I had both independently been thinking about doing something new, something fresh. We wanted to build something that's reflective of our values and our beliefs."

"We reached the point where we felt like we'd gone as far as we could go, and that's a real turning point in your life," Barber said. "Am I going to take a leap and rediscover a level of vigor and energy and enthusiasm and excitement and try to build something even though there's a lot of risk involved? We were both willing to shoulder that risk."

What is Barber Ranen hoping to bring to the table for its lawyers and its clients? Barber's response is quite hopeful and inspiring:

"Jeff and I are in lockstep in that we serve two masters -- excellence and our culture -- and we are ferociously protective of both. Every decision we make is not viewed from the prospective of profit or power or anything other than does this enhance our ability to deliver excellent results to our clients and does it enhance our culture. We are both singularly focused on paying it forward. We try as we can to create opportunities for our people to foster their careers, to mentor, to create an environment which is conducive to becoming the very best that you can be as a lawyer. While that may sound Pollyanna-ish, it is absolutely so firmly ingrained in who we are, and that's the cornerstone of our firm."

Right now, Barber Ranen has outposts in 12 cities across the country, with physical office space in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Sacramento, and San Francisco.

Lewis Brisbois has been losing lawyers at a steady clip this year. Back in January, the Los Angeles-based firm lost its 44-member cybersecurity team (32 lawyers and 12 business professionals) to Constangy Brooks. Now, it's losing up to 140 lawyers and a yet-to-be determined number of business professionals to Barber Ranen.

As noted by the American Lawyer, the employment practice group at Lewis Brisbois is in a state of transition:

[Lewis Brisbois partner] Smigielski said a "sizeable" group of attorneys have been approached to join the new firm, with many indicating their intention to stay in place. Smigielski said it's not clear to leaders at Lewis Brisbois who has decided to remain and who has decided to go. "In the coming days, we'll have a clearer picture of what will transpire of that," she said.

Such transitions are "an unavoidable part of the legal landscape," Smigielski said. She said the firm has a consistent case inventory for which clients will continue to receive "the same high level of support."

Congratulations to everyone at Barber Ranen. Best of luck!

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she's worked since 2011. She'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.