Big Law Operating Model Threatened in Baker McKenzie Mine Case

A Swiss structure that lets law firms affiliate to jointly market services is facing a second legal test in less than a year that threatens the viability of the model.

Baker McKenzie, the first major US law firm to adopt the Swiss verein structure, is accused of legal malpractice through an alleged Russian member of its network. London-based Lehram Capital Investments faults the law firm for its loss in ownership of a Siberian coal mine.

Baker contends that the Russian law firm that handled the mine matter, Baker & McKenzie-CIS Ltd., was a separate entity. A failure to prove that ...