Late last year, Barclays sued Bear Stearns in federal court in New York over the collapse of Bear’s “Enhanced Leverage Fund”-- one of the two high-profile collapses in July 07 of funds containing large amounts of sub-prime mortgage-backed securities.  Linklaters represented Barclays, and when JPMorgan took over Bear Stearns, things got ugly.  You see, Linklaters is  was on JPMorgan’s ‘panel’ of preferred law firms and JPMorgan understandably didn’t take kindly to Linklaters pursuing the matter against it own client.

According to The Lawyer, Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne “took a stand—you just can’t drop a client.”  (Not to mention that New York State Bar rules would seem to prevent the firm from simply quitting the case.) So as of today, Linklaters has been ditched from its coveted spot on JPMorgan’s panel.

The Lawyer concludes with a rhetorical question and a prediction: “So could the major global firms start backing away from financial litigation? There are plenty of transatlantic disputes specialists more than happy to take their place. Step forward, Quinn Emanuel.”

Which brings me to this excerpt of a forthcoming Vault profile of Quinn Emmanuel.  It seems rather prescient, if I don’t say so myself:

"In May 2008, Quinn Emanuel had opened an office in London … Quinn’s London lawyers will litigate in the U.K. courts.  Like so much else Quinn does, the focus of the London office will be unique.  Specifically, the firm expects the bulk of its work will be disputes against major financial institutions, which the large, full-service firms will not do."

One firm gathers what another firm spills conflicts itself out of.

                                                                                            -posted by brian

a Vault writer at work yesterday