FOLLOWUPS Richard Foster U.S. POSTAL SERVICE
STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP MANAGEMENT & CIRCULATION
Title of Publication: VIRGINIA BUSINESS, Publication Number: 01-387. Date of filing: Sept. 12, 2019. Frequency of issue: monthly. Number of issues published annually: 12. Annual subscription price: $48. Complete mailing address of known office of publication: 1207 E. Main St., #100, Richmond, VA 23219. Complete mailing address of the headquarters of general business offices of the publisher: 1207 E. Main St., #100, Richmond, VA 23219. Publisher: Bernard A. Niemeier, 1207 E. Main St., #100, Rich- mond, VA 23219. Editor: Richard Foster, 1207 E. Main St., #100, Richmond, VA 23219. Managing Editor: none, Owner: Virginia Business Publications, LLC, 1207 E. Main St., #100, Richmond, VA 23219. Known bondholders, mortgagees and other security holders: none.
Extent and Nature of Circulation
a. Total No. Copies (Net press run)
Average Number Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months
Actual Number Copies of Single Issue Nearest to Filing Date
29,467 29,691 _______________________________________________________________
b. Paid and/or Requested Circulation (1) Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated
on Form 3541:
(2) Paid In-county Subscriptions: (3) Sales Through Dealers and Camers, Street
Vendors, Counter sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside USPS
_______________________________________________________________
c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation:
_______________________________________________________________ d. Nonrequested Distribution By Mail (1) Outside-County as Stated on Form 3541
15,546 14,774 13,085
_______________________________________________________________ e. Total Nonrequested Distribution
_______________________________________________________________ f. Total Distribution
_______________________________________________________________ g. Copies Not Distributed
_______________________________________________________________ h. Total
13,085 13,829 28,631 28,603 795
_______________________________________________________________ 29,426 29,666
i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation
Electronic Copy Circulation:
a. Requested and Paid Electronic copies
117
_______________________________________________________________ c. Total Requested Copy
Print Copies + Requested/ Paid Electronic Copies
28,748 28,638
_______________________________________________________________ d. Percent Paid and/or
Distribution + Requested/ Paid Electronic Copies
54.48% 51.71%
Requested Circulation (Both Print & Electronic Copies)
CORRECTIONS
The September 2019 article “Encore performance” misidentified companies that worked with Louisiana’s FastStart program. It has worked with companies including Benteler, Electronic Arts, Gardner Denver, GE Capital, IBM and ConAgra.
In the September 2019 article “A historic challenge,” Colonial Williamsburg’s top year for attendance was 1988. Attendance last year reached the lowest point since the 1960s.
Signature/Title of Publisher, Bernard A. Niemeier, Publisher
6 | OCTOBER 2019
The September 2019 article “Casting a wider net,” mentioned a cold storage warehouse being built in Portsmouth. It will be branded as Lineage Logistics, which acquired Pre- ferred Freezer Services in May.
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_______________________________________________________________ b. Total Requested and Paid
15,663 14,809 _______________________________________________________________ 54.30% 51.65% 1,063
(2) In-County as Stated on Form 3441 (3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS
13,829 (4) Other Mail Classes Through the USPS 35 35 15,511 14,739 LeClairRyan files for bankruptcy
LeClairRyan, once Virginia’s fifth-largest law firm, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protec- tion in September. On S ept. 3, LeClairRyan filed its petition in federal bank- ruptcy court in Richmond, just five weeks after the 31-year-old firm announced that it would shut down. In its filing, the law firm estimates its assets and liabilities range from $10 million to $50 million. It owes money to between 200 and 999 creditors. On Sept. 12, LeClairRyan’s trustee filed a new motion to
reorganize the case as a Chap- ter 7 liquidation, further acknowl- edging that the firm intends to shut down.
Founded in 1988 in Rich- mond as a boutique law firm serving startups, LeClairRyan at its peak employed about 385 attorneys working in 25 offices throughout the United States. Facing declining revenue, LeClairRyan this year saw many of its lawyers leave for other firms. These included co- founder Gary LeClair, who joined Williams Mullen in August.
LeClairRyan
announces shutdown T
by Richard Foster
he leadership of LeClairRyan has acknowledged that the 31-year- old law firm, once the fifth-largest
in Virginia, will be shutting down. “On behalf of my colleagues, we are
deeply saddened to make this announce- ment today,” the firm’s former CEO, C. Erik Gustafson, said in an Aug. 7 news release.“Through our transition, we will continue to focus first and foremost on the success of our clients, as we always have done. I am thankful to all of the clients who have chosen to work with our team over the last 30 years, and I am grateful for the exceptional lawyers and professionals who continue to work with dedication and determination towards winding down the firm in an orderly fashion.” The firm’s members voted to “com-
mence an orderly wind-down of the firm’s business,” according to the release. “The firm, through its dissolution committee, is working in cooperation with its lender to ensure the continuity of client service until such time as the firm ceases to actively practice law and turns its attention to post-practice activities.” Co-founder, former CEO and name
partner Gary LeClair raised eyebrows in late July when it was announced that he and two other LeClairRyan partners, David Lay and Andrew White, had joined the corporate law section at Wil- liams Mullen, Virginia’s third-largest law firm. The day before the Williams Mullen announcement, news broke that 15 LeClairRyan aviation attorneys had left the firm for Philadelphia-based Fox Rothschild LLP. The exodus continued
Graphic courtesy LeClairRyan
in early August with the announcement that LeClairRyan attorneys Jim Guy, Garland Carr and Cathy Zhang also have joined Williams Mullen. During the last few years, LeClair-
Ryan has seen a steady decline in gross revenues, sinking from $163 million in 2015 to $122.5 million last year. Its staff- ing has decreased from a peak of more than 350 attorneys in 2015 to around 190 attorneys this year. LeClairRyan has 21 offices nationwide, stretching from Los Angeles to New York. The law firm’s clients have included
Ford Motor Co., United Airlines and FedEx. The legal industry publication
American Lawyer reported that, before LeClairRyan’s dissolution was announced, some of its lawyers had considered form- ing a new firm to be called Novellus. In recent months, the embattled firm
has also faced legal actions, including a federal gender discrimination lawsuit filed last week in the Eastern District of Vir- ginia, alleging that LeClairRyan’s female
www.VirginiaBusiness.com
employees have systematically been paid less than their male counterparts. In early July, the landlord of the firm’s now-closed Williamsburg office sued LeClairRyan in James City County Circuit Court, seeking $374,000 in unpaid rent. In August, a Richmond Circuit Court
judge dismissed a $603 million malprac- tice lawsuit filed against LeClairRyan by Tonya Mallory, the former CEO of the now-defunct Health Diagnostic Labora- tory (HDL). Mallory’s lawsuit blamed LeClairRyan’s legal advice for the “cata- strophic results” that led to the closure of her once highly successful company. Mal- lory says she intends to appeal the verdict. LeClairRyan previously paid a $20.375 million settlement to HDL’s bankruptcy estate in a similar dispute over legal services it provided to HDL. The medical-testing corporation filed for bank- ruptcy following a federal investigation into its business practices, which included reimbursing physician’s offices for process- ing and handling blood samples.
VIRGINIA BUSINESS | 47
rfoster@va-business.com Business Law
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