Heller Ehrman LLP, Liquidating Debtor v. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Heller Ehrman LLP, Liquidating Debtor v. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP (In re Heller Ehrman LLP), 830 F.3d 964 (9th Cir. July 27, 2016): The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit certified to the California Supreme Court the question of whether a dissolved law firm has a property interest in hourly fee engagements in progress at the time of its dissolution such that the firm is entitled to compensation from law firms that later complete the work after employing an attorney of the dissolved firm post-dissolution to complete the engagement. The issue underlies the viability of the doctrine of Jewel v. Boxer, 156 Cal. App. 3d 171 (1984).