ISN'T IT RICH? - American Business Media

BARTALKTouchdown!The Am Law firmsthat profited from theNFL and the playersunion negotiations.Now that the 2011 footballseason is behind us, thefour-and-a-half-month lockoutand the legal battle thatthreatened to scuttle theseason seem like a distantmemory. But it’s worthlooking at what the NationalFootball League PlayersAssociation (NFLPA) spenton lawyers and lobbyists inthe run-up to the collectivebargaining agreement (CBA)that was reached last July.Here’s a breakdown ofthe top Am Law 200 billersfor legal and labor-relatedmatters for the NFLPAbetween March 2010 andFebruary 2011.—Brian Baxter$3.1 MillionLATHAM & WATKINS$2.9 MillionDEWEY & LEBOEUF$948,983PATTON BOGGS$294,843GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER$274,075WEIL, GOTSHAL & MANGES$258,663FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKITHE SCORESource: U.S. Department of LaborTHE NAME GAMEAmong law firms, there are increasingly fewer namepartners. Some firms, such as Squire Sanders (Squire,Sanders & Dempsey) and Locke Lord and Sedgwick(Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell and Sedgwick Detert Moran & Arnold), shorten their names for marketingpurposes. Regardless of the reason behind the cuts, it’s easy to forget that the names being sliced off werepeople who, in many instances, founded the firms or laid the groundwork for their current national and globalambitions. Below, a look at some partners whose names no longer grace their firms’ logos. —NATE RAYMONDJAMES DEMPSEYd. May 2, 1920FRANK LIDDELLd. July 16, 1964LEONARD JANOFSKYd. March 1, 2000After attending Harvard Law School, Janofsky struggled to find a job at the major Los Angeles law firms because of stillprevailinganti-Semitism. He taught celestial navigation to pilots in Brazil during World War II, then joined up with Lee Pauland Robert Hastings to form what was initially called PAUL & HASTINGS in 1951. Janofsky’s name landed on the mastheadin 1962. Janofsky represented management for clients including the Los Angeles Times and Union Oil Company of California—inunion negotiations. In 1979 Janofsky became the first labor lawyer to head the American Bar Association.GUNTHER DETERTd. August 13, 1994WILLIAM SANDERSret. December 31, 1999NOWSQUIRE SANDERSEffective: Jan. 1, 2012NOWLOCKE LORDEffective: Sept. 27, 2011NOWPAUL HASTINGSEffective: July 22, 2011NOWSEDGWICKEffective: March 31, 2011HUSCH BLACKWELLEffective: Aug. 30, 2010BEFORESQUIRE, SANDERS & DEMPSEYAfter just one year of studying law, Dempsey took a full-time job at what had been his summer employer, Cleveland’s ESTEP,DICKEY & SQUIRE. In 1890 he and partner Andrew Squire left the firm to set up Squire, Sanders & Dempsey with JudgeWilliam Sanders. Over the next 30 years, Dempsey focused largely on corporate work, taxes, and estates. At the dawn of thetwentieth century, he and Squires represented street railways owner Marcus Hanna, an industrialist turned U.S. senator.The firm consolidated the railways into the Cleveland Railway Company, which the city later took over during World War II.BEFORELOCKE LORD BISSELL & LIDDELLAfter serving in World War I, Liddell returned to his adopted home of Houston in 1919 and landed a job as an associate atHUGGINS & KAYSER, a Locke Lord predecessor. A year later the partners added his name to the door. He gained a regularclient in Houston Chronicle owner Jesse Jones after defending the paper in a libel lawsuit over an article about a doctoraccused of murdering a young woman. The doctor lost the suit and went to prison for perjury. Liddell also served as generalcounsel for El Paso Natural Gas Company and The National Bank of Commerce, now part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.BEFOREPAUL, HASTINGS, JANOFSKY & WALKERBEFORESEDGWICK DETERT MORAN & ARNOLDDetert joined SEDGWICK in 1941, when it was called KEITH & CREEDE. Detert was the relationship partner on one ofSedgwick’s largest clients, the Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO). Considered a generalist, he alsohandled estate planning for several prominent San Francisco families. A spokesperson called him “the firm’s residentviticulturist”: Detert acquired a vineyard in 1953 and became a founding member and president of the CaliforniaVintage Wine Association. Today, his grandsons operate Detert Family Vineyards.BEFOREHUSCH BLACKWELL SANDERSAfter joining Husch Blackwell predecessor CALDWELL, DOWNING, NOBLE & GARRITY in Kansas City in 1945, Sandersdefended clients such as Firestone Tire & Rubber Company and the Dow Chemical Company in more than 500 jury trialsthroughout the country. He has since retired, spending most of his time at his ranch in eastern Kansas.FOTOLIA (FOOTBALL PLAYER); WILLIAM RIESER18 March 2012 | americanlawyer.com© 2012 K&L Gates LLP. All rights reserved.