Summary: The Nevada law firm has been slammed with leaving partners and staff the past month but it is still progressing forward and paying off debts.
Gordon Silver law firm can trace its history back to the 1960s. As of last spring the firm, well-known for their bankruptcy practice, had 39 attorneys. This made them the sixth largest in the Las Vegas area. They now have two lawyers and 10 office staff members.
About 15 attorneys, including Gerald “Jerry” Gordon left to form a new law firm, Garman Turner Gordon. An additional 13, six from Reno and seven from Vegas, left to join a rival firm, Dickinson Wright. This is the least of the firm’s problems.
They are currently being sued for unpaid rent. Gordon Silver was renting out a three floor for a total area around 54,000 square feet. The landlord, the Blackstone Group, has sued the firm for unpaid rent and other fees, about $786,000. The landlord is seeking a receiver to take control of their finances, property, mail, and additional assets because they fear that the firm will “move, transfer, divert, conceal, or otherwise hide its money and property in order to avoid collection efforts.”
Gordon Silver moved out of the office space into a small office at the beginning of June, notifying the landlord on May 29th that they were moving going to move out. The landlord then sent a notice declaring that they “had five days to pay rent or surrender its offices.” They began moving out immediately and were done by June 8th.
Managing shareholder Mark Dzarnoski strongly asserts that the firm will not avoid paying. He admits that they had not yet paid rent for June, which is around $100,000. The landlord claims the monthly rent is $160,000.
Dzarnoski became the managing shareholder after the previous one, Greg Gorman left with Gordon at the beginning of May. He was informed the day before officially taking the position that the firm had not being paying rent since January. The chief financial officer, Andrew Zimmerman, said the firm was in negotiations over the January through March’s rent to be paid later. The next day, the day he officially became the managing shareholder, he paid May’s rent.
While the future of the law firm remains uncertain, Dzarnoski has been working tirelessly to get the firms debts under control, taking their loans at Nevada State Bank from $2.5 million down to $1.53 million by June 30th. He plans to get the debt down to $500,000 or less by the end of July.
Source: http://vegasinc.com/business/legal/2015/jul/09/after-falling-behind-rent-gordon-silver-sued-owner/
Photo: nevadabusiness.com