Insights & Resources

On Aug. 4, after almost 90 years, Schnader said it was closing, the Philadelphia Business Journal, a sister publication, reported. That includes its Philadelphia headquarters and all of its locations — Cherry Hill, New Jersey; Wilmington, Delaware; New York; San Francisco; Pittsburgh; and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Keith Whitson, the firm’s Pittsburgh-based general counsel, said in a statement that Schnader was “saddened to announce that it will be dissolving and winding up its affairs.”

The reasons were not disclosed, nor were details of Schnader’s plan or timing for the closure.

Yet to unfold locally is what's next for Schnader's remaining lawyers and staff and its downtown office space as those in the legal community ponder Schnader's role and legacy.

 

With the dwindling numbers of attorneys, and the corresponding loss of business, it comes as no surprise that this would be one solution if the firm was not able to replace those partners and bolster their ranks to sustain operating capital," observed Lori Carpenter, president of recruitment firm Carpenter Legal Search. "There are now more firms and competition in the markets where Schnader has a footprint, offering partners full-service platforms from which to grow a practice. The Pittsburgh Schnader office had some of the fewest numbers of attorneys out of all their offices, and I think the attorneys will be absorbed by other firms or go in-house. It seems that the firm must have been discussing this for a while.

Read more: Schnader, once one of PIttsburgh's biggest law offices, is closing - by Patty Tascarella, Pittsburgh Business Times