The WSJ published a follow-up to its interview with Ruyak on its law blog. Nothing more than quotes from Ruyak, utterly devoid of analysis.
Ruyak blames the demise of Howrey on issues that have faced virtually every AmLaw 100 firm: being a litigation firm on a global scale, third-party ediscovery vendors, the growing use of alternative fee arrangements, and the recession.
Shame on WSJ for pretending to be a good source of news about the legal industry. Any legal reporter worth a damn should have sufficient intelligence and experience to realize that Ruyak's reasons are utter bullshit and don't pass the laugh test and publish a real article that accurately reports on the reasons for Howrey's demise, rather than an effortless analysis-free article that masquerades as such.
The Bobster complains that, "Partners at major law firms have very little tolerance for change." Not so. Many Howrey partners would long ago have welcomed a complete change at very the top of the firm.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone heard where Jerry Ganzfried (head of appellate) is going?
ReplyDeletePerhaps he will just retire, as he was probably close to doing so anyway?
The Wall Street Journal went down the tubes when Rupert Murdoch bought it. The old WSJ would have killed that article and printed something actually thought-provoking and worthwhile ... not just quotes from Buffalo Bob (with apologies to Howdy/Howrey Doody).
ReplyDeleteSo where is Ruyak heading?
ReplyDelete9:59 - The rumor is Akin Gump. Since Ruyak is on the dissolution team, he has a different timetable for moving to another firm. I wouldn't expect to hear anything about Ruyak going to another firm until Howrey's leases force it into bankruptcy.
ReplyDeleteThe next big day for partner moves will be March 16th. The partners who voted on dissolution on March 9th can't leave until the vote is final on the 15th.
Get over it, Howrey Doody. Don't be me wrong, my firm is glad to not have to contend with Howrey for clients anymore, but Ruyak is an incredible lawyer, and in a great way this had more to do with Howrey as a whole than just Ruyak.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, you seem to have forgotten that Howrey, like almost every major firm, has an executive committee that has to OK the vast majority of MP decisions...and they all have stood behind Ruyak for the first part. You think he made all these decisions himself? You obviously have no idea how firms work.
It's easy to say awful things about people when you are an anonymous blogger, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI understand what is going on - and that it is awful - but at least the people dealing with this aren't hiding behind a blog.
Afraid people will know you were the receptionist who got fired 4 months ago for being retarded at your job? I think so. I agree with 10:56 as well - anyone who listens to your bullshit and believes it must be as stupid as you are.
@10:56 & 11:00 - Your posts sound like you are the same person. Even if they are not, I am totally unclear why both of you think the blog author is saying "awful things." It would be interesting to hear examples. Really, it is these posts that strike me as inflammatory, particularly the second one.
ReplyDeleteAs a former Howrey attorney, I feel terrible for all of the people who are looking for work (staff, associates, L1s, etc.), and I read this blog to receive what seem to be more accurate updates than are available through, say, ATL (more accurate does not mean perfect, but this is a gossip site). Were I still at Howrey, or had I been there within the past 12-18 months, I'd be livid with the person at the top. The defense that Ruyak was not the only person who made bad decisions doesn't mean that he shouldn't take the blame--he sought (reasonably, in my mind) the credit when times were tough; he is presiding over the collapse of a very good firm that was recently on solid footing now, however, and it is equally reasonable to give him the majority of the blame. In other words "why didn't anyone stop me?" is not a defense.
(that should say "the credit when times were good")
ReplyDelete8:57 - I agree completely. Ruyak was paid $3 million a year to manage the firm. The management model that he developed put an enormous amount of power in his hands, and anyone who thinks that he does not bear the lion's share of responsibility for this debacle simply doesn't understand how the firm operated over the past 10 years. Howrey was a "partnership" in name only. The reality is that the firm was run by and for the benefit of Ruyak and those in his inner circle. If others made money in the process, fine. But individuals outside of Ruyak's inner circle had absolutely no voice in the direction of the firm. Their only option was to vote with their feet, which they obviously did en masse over the last two years.
ReplyDelete....actually the voting with their feet occurred over the last 10 years.......
ReplyDeleteHowrey was stuck in a time warp and kept its head in the sand. The complete lack of management for the last 10 years doomed the firm. It was not just the last 2 years.
Ruyak ignored the partners and increasingly appointed irrelevant partners to the Executive Committee. He ran the firm like a third world country - for the benefit of himself and a small band of loyalists who defended him irrationally right to be very end.
ReplyDelete@ 3-16 10:14
ReplyDeleteWhy are you calling people names? Everyone has a right to their opinion just like you do. As a current employee still looking for another job many of us are PISSED at Ruyak for running a 55 year old company into the ground ESPECIALLY when word has it that he's currently in Hawaii living it and in my opinion personally celebrating his accomplishments of destroying a WONDERFUL company. Howrey maight not have been a modern in how we utilized legal technology in handling our cases but since I joined the firm three years ago it has been a great working environment.
Uh, I don't think you quite got it, 3/18 2:29. You and Howrey Doody are ON THE SAME SIDE.
ReplyDeleteWhat? Anonymous March 18? You said Howrey had a great working environment? You clearly were NOT an associate at Howrey. Are you Matt Wolfe's BFF?
ReplyDelete