Eversheds LLP is expanding in Africa by combining with law firms based in South Africa and Tunisia.Mahons Attorneys in South Africa will rebrand with the Eversheds name in 2014, giving the firm offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Louis in Mauritius. Mahons has 10 partners who advise on business matters.“We have extremely strong and long-standing relationships with many of the Mahons team, including senior partner Peter van Niekerk, who was deputy chairman of our previous business in South Africa,” Bryan Hughes, Eversheds chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Having a strong platform in South Africa is vital to our growth plans in the region.”El Heni, a Tunis-based firm founded 30 years ago, joined Eversheds and will become the firm’s Tunisian office.
El Heni has worked for two years under the name CWA Tunisia in cooperation with Eversheds and will now be known as Eversheds El Heni.“This relationship will be of benefit to our diverse existing client base and will create further domestic and international opportunities in the future,” Mohamed Raouf El Heni, co-founder of El Heni, said in a statement.Eversheds expects to establish additional offices in Morocco, Ghana and Kenya within months. The firm also started the African Law Institute, where member law firms in Africa can access training and develop commercial opportunities. Firms in 14 countries have signed up as members, Eversheds said.Eversheds has lawyers at 50 offices in 29 countries worldwide.
Dewey Trustee Sues Nine Former Partners for $9.8 Million
Nine former equity partners at defunct law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP were sued by bankruptcy trustee Alan Jacobs, seeking $9.8 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.The lawsuits, filed Dec. 2, seek hundreds of thousands of dollars and sometimes more than $1 million from partners for bonuses paid, partner capital or personal income tax payments that the firm made on the lawyers’ behalf, according to the newspaper.According to the Journal, the former Dewey partners and the amount they were sued for are Eric W. Blanchard, $1.43 million; Geoffrey H. Coll, $1.48 million; Mark S. Radke, almost $855,000; L. Londell McMillan, $1.77 million; Glynna Christian, almost $395,000; John P. Keiserman, more than $595,000; Lawrence LaRose, $1.67 million; Fred W. Reinke, about $814,000; and Anthony W. Shaw, $788,000.
A week earlier, Jacobs filed a $21.8 million lawsuit against Stephen DiCarmine, the defunct law firm’s former executive director, and Joel Sanders, the chief financial officer. Compensation for the top managers was “far above the value of the services” they rendered and was “atypical” compared with salaries for “comparable law firm management administrators,” according to the complaint.Dewey once had 1,300 lawyers. The liquidation began under Chapter 11 in May 2012. At the outset of bankruptcy, there was secured debt of about $225 million and accounts receivable of $217.4 million, the firm previously said.
