The easy answer had always been Chevron. Throughout 2013 and this year, Patton Boggs’ litigation entanglement with Chevron Corporation became the scapegoat for the firm’s problems. It was a fiscal liability; a reason the 325-lawyer firm might seek bankruptcy protection; and the piece that needed resolution before a merger with Squire Sanders could occur.
Chevron was a problem. But interviews with more than a dozen former Patton Boggs partners reveal a deeper story. Chevron was never the linchpin that pressed Patton Boggs into a do-or-die merger vote, they say. Instead, the fault lies with choices, largely about compensation, made years ago as a result of founder Thomas Hale Boggs Jr.’s professional magnetism and lobbying successes.
