Update, 5/1/12, 12:59 a.m. EDT: This story has been updated to include new information related to a message sent by Dewey & LeBoeuf management to the firm’s partners Monday.
Amid an ongoing flood of partner departures and frantic efforts to save the firm in some form, Dewey & LeBoeuf management issued a memo late Monday informing the remaining partners that they are under no obligation to stick with the firm in its current precarious state.
According to a source with knowledge of the memo’s contents, the message was intended to let partners know that fiduciary duties do not restrict them from considering or pursuing career alternatives outside those the firm is discussing with possible transaction partners. As previously reported, Dewey had been in talks with Greenberg Traurig to execute some form of combination or mass lateral hire, but both firms confirmed Sunday that those discussions are over. Other firms, including Patton Bogg and SNR Denton, have also reportedly had discussions with Dewey. On Monday, representatives of both Patton Boggs and SNR Denton declined to comment on those reports.
The late Monday memo capped a four-day stretch that saw at least 11 more partners leave the embattled firm. It also followed closely Dewey’s Friday acknowledgment that the Manhattan district attorney’s office is investigating possible wrongdoing by former chairman Steven Davis and that the firm has launched its own internal probe of Davis.
