RICHMOND — The Richmond-based legal giant LeClairRyan is shutting down, a casualty of a dramatic collapse in revenue and an exodus of lawyers in recent years.
The demise of the national law firm, which has an office in Charlottesville, also is attributed in part to the uncertainty surrounding a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by a former client.
LeClairRyan announced late Wednesday afternoon that its partners had voted to start an orderly wind down of its business, saying it “was in the best interest of our clients, colleagues and creditors.”
It is one of the larger law firms to close in recent years in Virginia and nationally.
LeClairRyan, with 21 offices across the country, including six in Virginia, was ranked No. 179 among the nation’s law firms based on revenue in 2018.
The decision to cease operations came as departures continued at LeClairRyan this year, including Gary LeClair, the firm’s co-founder and former longtime CEO who joined crosstown rival Williams Mullen earlier this week.
Besides losing lawyers, LeClairRyan has closed offices and the firm’s gross revenue continued to decline.
C. Erik Gustafson, who was listed in a news release as the former CEO of LeClairRyan, said in the statement that he and his colleagues were “deeply saddened” to make the decision to wind down operations…
