Lewis Brisbois Presses Overhaul With Leader, Revenue Changes

Lewis Brisbois’ chief operating officer, nearly three months in on the job, said the firm is making progress with new leaders and revenue control after the chaotic mass exit of more than 100 lawyers.

The firm has brought in consultants to serve as chief technology officer and chief information officer after it fired founder Bob Lewis’ son, Tommy Lewis, from both roles. Bob Lewis retired, the firm said Oct. 2, the day before it revealed Tommy’s exit.

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith’s other changes include a new finance team and updated procedures to speed up revenue collection, said COO Richard Davis. The firm has faced years of complaints from partners over slow client billing.

“I wouldn’t say it’s end of job, but we’ve implemented some processes that have improved,” Davis said in an interview. “That’s something we’re going to continue to invest in—people, processes, and making sure the revenue cycle management is where it should be.”

Richard Davis

Photo: Lewis Brisbois

The changes come in the year after more than 100 lawyers, led by leaders of the employment department, left the Los Angeles-founded firm. The exodus, which prompted a nasty public fight, followed years of discontent that has spilled into court proceedings and letters to state officials.

Lewis stepped down as the chairman after the exodus and the other founder, Bob Smith, retired. The firm dissolved its executive committee, expanded its management committee, and appointed a new managing partner, New York-based Greg Katz.

Katz, who has been at the firm for nearly 15 years, and the expanded management committee then made changes. Brian Gedeon, the firm’s chief financial officer, and Barbara Cheen, the chief client relations officer, both left. Tim Armstrong replaced Gedeon in February, while the firm eliminated Cheen’s role after her departure. Davis joined Lewis Brisbois from McGuireWoods in August, taking over for interim COO Jay McAveeney.

Davis said his goals for the 1,500-lawyer firm are to “improve our budgeting process to help prioritize and track our investments” and upgrade the firm’s cash conversion cycle.

“I’ve been following what’s happened at the firm over the last 12 to 24 months,” he said. “It was an organization embracing change with a new management structure and also has some pretty concrete and visible opportunities for improvement.”

Unpaid Invoices

Lewis Brisbois allegedly racked up millions in uninvoiced services and unreturned client funds, according to complaints that surfaced in court documents and letters to California labor authorities. The firm this year has filed six lawsuits against clients that seek to recoup a total of more than $450,000 in unpaid legal fees, court records show.

Former employment partner Julie O’Dell, who is in a dispute with Lewis Brisbois over money, alleged in an April lawsuit that the firm had “tens of millions of dollars” in uninvoiced services and stale client funds that should have been returned or applied to cases.

In 2023, O’Dell filed a Private Attorney General Act notice to California authorities that included text messages among partners who were frustrated over firm leaders’ unwillingness to hire administrators to oversee invoicing.

“I have recently requested that the firm hire a CEO/COO,” one unnamed partner is quoted as writing, according to O’Dell. “These proposals have been vehemently rejected and described as ‘non-starters.’”

Lewis Brisbois has said it is working to reach an “amicable resolution” with O’Dell. It declined to comment on her allegations of mismanaging client funds and slow invoicing.

The firm has continued to struggle with billing and its switch to a new system has created additional headaches, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships with the firm.

Newly installed firm leaders also have sought to extricate Lewis Brisbois from at least one vendor relationship established under Lewis’ purview. They severed ties with real estate broker Jonathan Larsen, resulting in him filing a lawsuit against the firm in June for $9 million.

Larsen, of Los Angeles-based Avison Young, claimed the firm breached a contract by taking over lease negotiations for offices in eight cities and terminating an agreement six years ahead of schedule. He alleged Lewis had agreed to extend an exclusive vendor agreement to 2030.

In response, Lewis Brisbois said it ended the contract because Larsen failed to inform the firm of a time-critical lease termination option and didn’t satisfy his duties to perform lease audits. The firm also alleged that Larsen couldn’t enforce a contract that wasn’t approved by the firm’s management committee.

The parties settled the dispute out of court for undisclosed terms, according to two people familiar with the litigation.

Tech Changes

Lewis Brisbois announced Tommy Lewis’ departure the day after it said Bob Lewis retired three months ahead of schedule. Tommy Lewis declined to comment on his departure. Bob Lewis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Tommy Lewis’ place, the firm named John Kutler of tech consultancy eSentio Technologies to serve as interim CTO. The consultancy’s Marty Metz was named chief information officer, according to an Oct. 3 firmwide email by Davis reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

Kutler and Metz’s appointment came as a result of an “in depth review of the department culminating over the last 45 days” with eSentio’s assistance, according to the Oct. 3 email. Kutler and Metz will occupy the roles until the firm identifies long-term replacements, Davis said in the interview.

The mass exodus that began the string of changes at Lewis Brisbois initially did not work out for many of those who left.

The spinoff firm, first called Barber Ranen, became embroiled in controversy surrounding its founders after Lewis Brisbois released 15 years of their emails to the media showing their use of offensive language.

The founders then quit and the firm rebranded itself before dissolving.