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Dewey LeBoeuff
杜威路博國際律師事務所
With a bang, not a whimper
砰然毀滅，而不是輕輕消亡
When a law firm gets into trouble, it can be hard to recover
律師事務所，一旦陷入困境就難以擺脫
THE chief benefit of the merger of Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene MacRae may have been a shorter name.
2007年，杜威律師事務所與路博律師事務所合并，帶來的主要好處大概是新的律師事務所有了一個更簡潔的名字
The deal, in 2007, created Dewey LeBoeuf, the world's 23rd-biggest law firm by revenue.
杜威.路博律師事務所，營業收入全球排名第23位。
The new firm was ambitious.
杜威曾經雄心勃勃，
But according to the American Lawyer, a magazine and compiler of legal league tables,
如今發展狀況卻不盡如人意。《美國律師》雜志編纂的律師事務所排行榜數據顯示：
revenue for 2010 turned out to be $760m, $150m less than first thought;
2010年，杜威.路博律師事務所的年收入只有7.6億美元，比預期低1.5億美元；
last year's sum, $782m, was not much better.
去年的總收入為7.82億美元，比2010年強不了多少。
Dewey has lost 70 of its partners—more than a fifth of the total—and more keep jumping ship.
杜威公司已經失去了70位合伙人，而更多的人也正打算跳槽。
It is said to be considering a prepackaged bankruptcy and a merger with another firm, Greenberg Traurig.
有消息稱，該公司正在考慮預組破產，并計劃與格林貝格.特勞里格公司合并。
The speed of Dewey's decline shows how fragile law firms' finances can be.
從杜威的迅速衰落可以看出律師事務所的收入何其不穩定。
If a public company gets into trouble, the price of its shares falls, giving investors an incentive to buy if they think the market undervalues it.
當一家上市公司陷入困境時，股價下跌，此時如果其市場價值被低估，可能會激勵投資者進行收購；
In companies with physical assets, creditors can demand that they be sold to repay loans.
同時債權人可以要求出售公司實物資產來償還債務。
But nearly all law firms are private partnerships whose only real assets are the partners themselves.
但幾乎所有的律師事務都是私人合股制公司，其資產就是合股人本身。
Not only can they not be sold;
公司合伙人當然無法出售，
they can get up and walk to a new firm. Worse, American lawyers typically take their clients with them.
他們只能籌備建立新的公司。更加糟糕的是，美國的律師離去時會帶走相應的客戶資源。
Survivors of failed firms talk ruefully about what went wrong—usually, overexpansion in one of two ways.
一家公司破產后，幸存的管理層會遺憾地談論他們的失誤之處在于過度擴張—一般有兩種情況：
The first is geographical:
一種是地理意義上的擴張，
a regional firm going national or a national one, international.
可能是一家區域性公司開始面向全國市場，也可能是一家國內公司轉向跨國經營。
This tends to dilute profits per partner.
各個合伙人的利益往往會因此降低，
Offices abroad, especially, can take a long time to turn a profit.
特別是建立國外辦事處這種做法很可能需要幾年的時間才開始盈利。
The second sort of expansion is to hire hotshot partners from outside.
另一種擴張則是通過企業從外部引進行業高手作為合伙人實現，
According to lawyers from other firms, Dewey committed two sins:
這也是杜威公司的選擇。據其他公司的律師稱，杜威公司承認自己犯了兩個大錯：
guaranteeing poached partners their first few years of income, and borrowing from banks to pay for them.
先向那些新合伙人許諾頭幾年的高薪，然后又從銀行借款來兌現這些承諾。
Unusually, in 2010 Dewey also issued bonds; the first of these mature next year.
反常的是，杜威還于2010年發行了債券，首批債券將于明年到期。
Firms with large debts are vulnerable if a big client leaves, a practice area sours or the economy weakens.
失去大客戶，某一地區業務狀況惡化或者經濟疲軟。
Partners may sit tight for one bad year, but after another some will scarper with their clients.
—這些都會使負擔大量債務的公司變得十分脆弱。
Firms that have nurtured their own talent are likely to have more loyal lawyers;
遇到一個壞年景時，合伙人可能會靜觀其變，如果情況未能好轉，部分人會帶著他們的客戶溜走。自己出資培養人才的事務所，其律師的忠誠度更高；
poachers such as Dewey, fewer.
而到處挖人的杜威就沒有那么多忠誠的律師了。
Expensive hires can cause resentment.
高薪雇用也會引來他人的怨恨。
There's only 100% of the profit to go around, says Ward Bower of Altman Weil, a consultancy.
自Altman Weil咨詢公司的Ward Bower認為工資總額是一定的，不可能超過利潤的100%，
To the extent anyone is overpaid, by definition someone else is underpaid.
如果一些人拿的過多，顯然其他人的報酬就過低了。
If enough people leave, the firm may break loan covenants with its banks, which can require it to have a minimum number of partners.
如果離開的員工過多，企業可能會違背貸款合約，而銀行可能會要求企業把合伙人數控制在最低數量，甚至要求該公司立即清償貸款。
Loans may be called in at once, or continued only under onerous conditions that can hasten the decline.
即便銀行繼續提供貸款，條件也會十分嚴苛，但這無疑會加快公司的衰退。
To stop an implosion, managers must act decisively, says Randall Miller, of Bryan Cave in Denver.
來自丹佛博凱律師事務所的Randall Miller認為，為了避免公司走向破產，管理層必須果斷決策。
He was managing partner of Holme, Roberts Owen, which found itself in a tight spot several years ago.
Miller是HRO律師事務所的任事股東，數年前HRO律師事務所在西部各州擴張，
An expansion in western states and a split with the Salt Lake City office left the firm in trouble.
這一戰略失敗后又與鹽湖城的辦事處關系破裂，這使得公司陷入困境，
Partners were leaving.
合伙人紛紛離去。
Mr Bower's Altman Weil helped with a scouring of excess costs.
Mr Bower的Altman Weil咨詢公司幫助HRO削減不必要的開支，
A brutally honest conversation with the partners helped convince enough of them to stay to allow the firm to stabilise and survive.
十分坦誠地向合伙人闡明了公司的情況。這些努力挽留下足夠的合伙人，穩定了事務所的狀況，避免其走向破產。
It merged with Bryan Cave this year.
今年HRO與博凱律師事務所合并。
But Mr Miller points out that his firm did not take on big bank debts, as Dewey did.
與此同時Miller先生指出，HRO并未像杜威那樣承擔大量的銀行債務。
According to the Wall Street Journal, the firm has until the end of April to negotiate the extension of a credit line.
華爾街日報稱，直到四月底杜威才與銀行協商擴大信用額度。
Dewey's lineage goes back a century. It may survive for another century, but only if its leaders act decisively in the coming weeks.
領導層必須在隨后的幾星期內果斷采取行動，已經走過了一個世紀的杜威才可能走得更遠。
Other firms watch not with glee but with nervousness, knowing that a short run of bad luck could put them on the same wobbly precipice.
其他律師事務所也緊張的關注著事態發展，他們無法幸災樂禍，畢竟一次小小的不走運足以把他們也推向危機的邊緣。
