Group of 22 Lawyers Leaving Bingham McCutchen for Akin Gump

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Summary: The law firm of Bingham McCutchen has lost 22 lawyers from its restructuring practice. The group is led by James Roome, who is based in London, and will join Akin Gump. 

The restructuring practice at Bingham McCutchen has taken a major hit as 22 partners have left the firm, according to a report from Reuters. This could cause an issue with the potential merger between Bingham and Morgan Lewis & Bockius, which began back in July of this year.

  

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Bingham is based in Boston and it has more than 750 lawyers. The firm has represented Bank of America Corp, UBS, and Morgan Stanley.

The group leaving the firm is headed by James Roome and based in London. The lawyers leaving are in London, Frankfurt and Hong Kong. All of them will join Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

“This will be transformative in enhancing our brand as a leading global firm,” said Kim Koopersmith, chair of Texas-founded Akin Gump.

According to those close to the firm, Roome was one of the most senior members and had one of the most lucrative practices at Bingham. Roome served as the co-chair of Bingham’s global financial restructuring group and served as a member of the firm’s board. He was the managing partner of the firm’s London, Hong Kong and Frankfurt offices.

An email was sent out on Tuesday by managing partner of Bingham, Steven C. Browne. The email acknowledged the departure of the lawyers.

“While news coverage will sensationalize the departures’ impact, we acted quickly and aggressively some time ago to address the possibility of these departures,” said Browne. “We carefully modeled the financial implications and we are confident that we remain on track to exceed last year’s results.”

News first broke of the departure more than a month ago, prior to Roome resigning from Bingham McCutchen, but the firm has acknowledged the departures and imminent departures of support staff members.