Apparently Richard Phelan is the reason, or at least one reason, that Michael Pope is resigning from the prominent Chicago law firm the two founded in 1976.
“I have differences with the leadership on matters of substance and style,” Pope said of the firm, Phelan Pope Cahill Devine & Quinlan. Asked to be more specfic, Pope said the differences concern “how we treat one another in this firm.”
Pope will be joining McDermott, Will & Emery, the eighth-largest law firm in the city with more than double the number of lawyers of the Phelan firm.
“It’s a super international law firm,” Pope said. “They want me to set up their product liability practice group, which is a nationwide division in the litigation department.”
Pope said his differences were with Phelan, and other members of the executive committee that Phelan chairs, including Richard Devine.
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And Devine himself may be jumping ship for a Democratic run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Paul Simon. Devine has strong ties to the Daleys that date to the late Richard J. Daley. Under the current mayor, Devine served as head of the Chicago Park District Board during Daley’s first term. And he served as his first assistant when Daley was Cook County state’s attorney.
“I’m considering my options,” Devine said of a Senate run.
Phelan, former Cook County Board president who returned to the firm last December after an unsuccessful run for governor, told The Tribune last week that Pope announced his resignation to his partners, telling them it had nothing to do with a clash with Phelan.
Despite their differences, Pope said he and Phelan hope for a “classy parting of ways.”
Pope has developed a respected reputation for his work for Fortune 500 companies in the area of product-liability defense litigation. He downplayed any possibility of a fight over clients.
“I think, in 1995, clients will decide which cases stay and which go with me,” he said. “My clients have been very supportive of me.”
It must have been a tough decision for Pope, who said his phone was “ringing off the hook” when word spread that he was thinking of changing jobs.
“The Chicago legal community has been very kind. I’m a lucky guy.”
Roseann Oliver, managing partner of Phelan Pope, said the firm won’t suffer because of Pope’s departure. “Our intention is to continue to grow as a trial firm,” she said. “That’s what we will continue to do.”
Lucky Lucius at 80: When it comes to lucky numbers, Julius Lucius Echeles, Chicago’s legendary defense lawyer and scratch gambler, is no different than most of us. He likes 7 and 11-7 for the wives he’s known; 11 for the children they bore him.
Come Saturday, Echeles confronts another number-his 80th birthday, with plenty of high-rollers to give him cheer. The candles will be on a cake served up at a New Jersey casino, where a party is scheduled for 150 people, including extended family members, said health club executive Joram Echeles, a son.
Octogenarian Echeles won’t jinx semiretirement. “I am not trying cases in court anymore,” he said. “Too strenuous.”
A correction: This column erred in a May 23 story about Michael Polsky, the co-generation engineer whose dismissal as chief operating officer of Indeck Energy Services Inc. was held illegal by an arbitrator.
Polsky was, in fact, empowered by his employment agreement to manage Indeck’s Buffalo Grove-based business as chief operating officer. It was a mistake to have suggested otherwise, as this column did.
As for the $39,000 in loans Polsky obtained and repaid the firm, checks covering the loans were approved and countersigned by management colleagues, and there was no attempt to evade oversight.
In holding that Polsky had been instrumental in transforming Indeck from a startup business into one with a market value in excess of $100 million, the arbitrator awarded him lost salary, bonuses and the value of his Indeck stock-a package worth about $23 million.
The stock valuation portion was later set aside, on the basis that the arbitrator had exceeded his authority. Polsky sued and his lawyers-Jack Block and Lowell Sachnoff of Sachnoff & Weaver-recovered much of the stock award after Indeck agreed to settle the dispute.
The Tribune regrets the errors.