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Business has been great. In the past year, the firm has represented Elon Musk in his takeover of Twitter and FTX in the crypto exchange's bankruptcy proceedings. It's in discussions to represent Credit Suisse investors against the Swiss government.
In addition to Quinn, Insider spoke with 60 current and former QE attorneys, as well as dozens of others, including competitors, friends, and law-school classmates of the firm's senior management. Together, they revealed previously unreported internal firm rivalries, tensions stemming from the generational changing of the guard, and insights into a revamping of the firm's partnership.
While he often consulted with partners on business decisions, Quinn liked to think of the firm as scrappy — without the layers of bureaucracy that he saw at his Big Law competitors. It wasn't like his firm was developing products or managing portfolio companies like its larger private-equity clients. All it had to focus on was bringing cases and scouting out new opportunities.
For the first time in its history, QE had formed something resembling a management committee. Called a"service committee," it consisted of some of the firm's biggest business generators, and its purpose was to serve the partnership. At least one partner who was involved, who like many lawyers interviewed for this story insisted on anonymity to avoid offending colleagues, questioned just how welcoming Quinn had been to the change.
But Carlinsky also wasn't a yes-man. Known for his blunt demeanor, he was one of the few partners who lawyers could turn to if they wanted to take up a grievance with Quinn. "I didn't have a silver spoon or a plastic spoon," says Carlinsky."I had nothing. I accomplished what I have against all odds, through many challenges, and I've just succeeded."
"That night, my wife goes, 'You gotta stop talking about this guy. It's like you have a man crush on him,'" recalls Carlinsky."And I said, 'I think I do!'" "My goal was consensus, consensus, consensus," says Quinn."Everybody should be happy to the extent possible. I stand by the results."Over three decades at the helm of QE, Quinn was known in some circles as the firm's"Benevolent Dictator."
For instance, when Quinn has circulated how much he paid partners in a quarterly email, they were sometimes surprised to see hefty sums going to some of their colleagues. Unlike other law firm leaders who zero in on their attorneys' client generation, Quinn paid lawyers more subjectively, taking into account an attorney's skills in the courtroom and their reputation in a certain market.
Selendy was known for suing the big banks in the wake of the financial crisis over mortgage-backed securities fraud; Gay's clients included Novartis, Colgate, and Coca-Cola.Quinn, in particular, didn't take the news well. When Gay circulated a goodbye poem to her colleagues, Quinn replied with a scathing firm-wide email.
With the benefit of distance, Quinn now downplays what happened, saying he's in touch with them and they may even refer business to one another. "It was kind of a shock to the system," one QE partner recalls. Urquhart often served as a buffer between Quinn and other partners, some of whom found Quinn's management style abrasive, one partner said. Another partner recalled once clashing with Quinn during a firm meeting and then getting a call from Urquhart, who tried to smooth things over.
"I call him the Terminator myself. You remember the Terminator? There was nothing he couldn't wipe out." In opening what was then called Quinn and Emanuel, in 1986, Quinn hustled to bring in clients. He had launched the firm with four associates from the LA office of the New York firm Reboul MacMurray, and they brought with them clients such as the defense firms Lockheed Martin and Parsons Corporation, as well as the toy maker Mattel. Within the first year, Quinn had landed the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organization that produces the Oscars.
As chaotic as the firm's internal affairs could be, however, Quinn was laser-focused in the courtroom. One of his early tactics entailed looking up at the ceiling when an opposing party shared damning documents with a jury. Since it appeared he was drowsy and uninterested, the jury paid no attention to the documents, said a lawyer who worked with him.
"I spoke to each and every one of the bomb squads," recalls Steve Madison, a QE partner who has close ties with law-enforcement agencies, having represented Los Angeles, its police department, and mayor. In some ways, the friction traces back to how QE expanded over the years, adding New York and DC litigators who ultimately became some of the firm's biggest business producers.
They've had discussions with certain individuals about production levels and created a committee to review partnership applications from associates throughout the year.
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