Howrey's Bankruptcy and Big Law Firms' Small Future

With a recessionary chill in the air, Washington’s legal elite put on a brave face in October 2009 for an annual gala at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. For the second consecutive year, Robert Ruyak, the dapper chairman of a litigation powerhouse called Howrey, heard his name included on an honor roll of leaders of the American bar. Ruyak, 60, certainly looked the part, his silver hair contrasting perfectly with a classic black tuxedo and cummerbund. Legal Times, the trade publication that sponsored the event, dubbed him a “visionary” who “in tough times found ways to build up his law firm, push for wise solutions for complex legal clashes, and insist on democratic and constitutional answers in government disputes.”

Since assuming the top spot at Howrey in 2000, Ruyak had more than doubled the firm’s size to 750 attorneys. He completed a merger with a Houston-based intellectual-property partnership and acquired firms or opened offices in Amsterdam, Brussels, Madrid, Munich, and Paris. Even with the economy deteriorating in late 2008, he hired 40 attorneys from a faltering bicoastal firm called Thelen, known for representing construction companies. In July 2009, Howrey expanded its reach into high tech by acquiring a boutique partnership in Silicon Valley. With average per-partner profits of $1.3 million, a firm record, Ruyak’s creation seemed like a countercyclical juggernaut.