Alumnus Les Corwin ’73 has been selected by the New York Law Journal to receive its prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for his exceptional career in law firm mergers and divestments.
Celebrating a career of work on major law firm mergers, dissolutions, and other disputes that have shaped the industry, the New York Law Journal has selected Les Corwin, managing partner of Eisner, LLP’s New York office, for its 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious honor recognizes outstanding legal professionals who have made a significant impact on the practice of law. A tribute written by Hildebrandt Consulting Chairman Bradford Hildebrandt appears here.
“I’m truly humbled by this recognition,” said Corwin, who in 2018 joined Eisner, LLP to lead the Los Angeles-based firm’s expansion in New York. “Above all else, I owe this award to the many great law firms, lawyers, and professional service providers who have trusted me to handle matters that, in many cases, dictated their professional futures.”
Over five decades of practice, Corwin has played a critical role in constructing and unwinding some of the legal profession’s largest law firms. He has handled mergers that added substantially to O’Melveny & Myers and Winston & Strawn. With the onset of the Great Recession, he advised on multiple law firm dissolutions. His dissolution plan for Heller Ehrman LLP – an international firm that once had more than 730 attorneys across 15 offices – was sustained by the California Supreme Court and established the fiduciary duties of dissolved law firm’s former partners regarding “unfinished business.” In the 1990s, Corwin’s litigation of the seminal Dawson v. White & Case matter led New York State to pass legislation allowing for the sale of legal practices. His co-authored treatise, “Law Firm Partnership Agreements,” remains the definitive word on the subject. He has also represented leading investment banks, private equity firms, real estate developers, and accounting firms in high-profile trials and litigations.