Page 636 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
I had a transaction with its real estate department, but that was not much for me to go on. Then Donald told me that he had first learned of the impending merger when, at a recent cocktail party, two separate real estate lawyers from other big firms whom he respected had ask him whether Rosenman was “out of its [adjectival expletive omitted] mind.” Joe might have weighed in, but he couldn’t, and so far as Don and I were concerned, the merger was already a runaway train. The vibra- tions were ominous.
The merger, which created a firm having close to six hundred attorneys, was voted on and agreed to in March, and what I regarded as Rosenman’s culture was about to change even more. While the transac- tion was termed a merger, it was pretty clear that it was an acquisition, an acquisition of Rosenman by Katten, which would now dominate the governance and, hence, the culture of the firm. It soon became clear that if Rosenman had become more of a “business” before the merger, with its emphasis increasingly on the number of hours that the attor- neys logged, the Katten culture increased that emphasis dramatically— and compounded the problem with an ice-cold lack of collegiality and professionalism. There was no communication from the top down, and people deemed unproductive, which meant not productive enough, were let go or otherwise trampled on, without the slightest effort to package the changes or otherwise to spare feelings. Chicago dominated from afar, and Rosenman began to feel like a colony, if not a plantation.
Even though I am by nature a grouser, much of this did not really bother me at the time. As far as I was concerned, my practice was inter- esting, and running the department had not weighed me down. To the contrary, it was usually fun—and always good for the ego. Real estate was a vital component of Katten’s practice, and I felt that that could only inure to my benefit.
The partners in New York would be meeting individually with Vince Sergi, the managing partner of Katten, in early May, and, soon thereafter, the various real estate departments would meet to talk about our “synergies.” On May 1, 2002, however, I wasn’t going to be around
• 618 •