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Judge: Defunct Firm Can Sue Lowenstein Sandler Over Defections

Essex County, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Donald Goldman has ruled that defunct law firm Ravin Sarasohn may sue Lowenstein Sandler over partner defections that killed the firm.

The judge rejected Lowenstein Sandler’s argument that a ruling in a related arbitration mandated dismissal of the claim.

Ravin Sarasohn, a Roseland, New Jersey firm that had more than 40 lawyers at its height in the 1990s, went out of business in 2000 after lawyer Kenneth Rosen led a group of partners and associates to Lowenstein Sandler.

Ravin Sarasohn says Lowenstein Sandler used confidential information to lure the group away and put the smaller firm out of business. Lowenstein Sandler says it didn’t ask for some of the financial information it received, and had nothing to do with theft of secrets.

Lowenstein Sandler, formerly Lowenstein, Sandler, Kohl, Fisher & Boylan, is a corporate law firm ranked 161st largest in the US in terms of attorney headcount by the National Law Journal, and 84th in profit per attorney by the AmLaw 200 survey.

Erik Even: