The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has agreed to weigh in on whether the Coudert Brothers estate is entitled to profits earned from so-called unfinished business taken by ex-partners to new employers in the wake of the firm’s 2006 collapse. The circuit granted petitions for interlocutory appellate review filed by 10 law firms and three individuals being sued by Coudert, as well as cross-petitions filed by Coudert’s plan administrator. The petitions took issue with aspects of a May decision by Southern District Judge Colleen McMahon (See Profile), who found that the estate has the right to collect money from hourly fee work taken by its ex-partners to their new firms because the estate retained the property rights to such engagements.
The suits target Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Arent Fox; Dechert; DLA Piper; Dorsey & Whitney; Duane Morris; Jones Day; K&L Gates; Morrison & Foerster; Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton; and three individual partners.
