By some measures, Bingham McCutchen's Los Angeles office is in trouble.
Less than four years after Bingham swallowed 60-lawyer Riordan & McKinzie, more than half of those lawyers have left, and overall headcount is down from 120 to just over 100. One recruiter refers to the office as "a headless horseman," another says it's "bleeding lawyers." And on American Lawyer magazine's most recent associate satisfaction survey, Bingham ranked dead last among L.A. law offices surveyed.
But appearances, firm leaders argue, can be deceiving. The firm's road-tested acquisition strategy -- seven mergers since 1997 -- means it scoops up lots of lawyers who don't want to be at Bingham (and the feeling is sometimes mutual). So there's some fallout. "Not all attrition is bad attrition," says firm Chairman Jay Zimmerman.
Still, there's a downside to all that rightsizing. Departures and disgruntled associates can fuel negative perceptions about a firm, an especially relevant detail as Bingham continues merger talks with litigation shop Alschuler Grossman.
"What's really important is what the next firm thinks," offered consultant Peter Zeughauser of the Newport Beach-based Zeughauser Group.
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