[Ed: I screwed up the original posting of this. Should be fixed now.]
We’re not picking on Quinn Emanuel on purpose. We’ve written about a few of the firm’s missteps before. There has been another twist in the lawsuit arising out of the firm’s short-lived representation of ConnectU, whose founders claimed they were screwed out of Facebook lucre. To recap:
Quinn Emanuel was also in the middle of the Facebook ownership dispute and settlement. The firm repped Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard roommates, who founded now-defunct competitor ConnectU. That settlement turned out to be a complete mess. After working out a deal and getting paid in Facebook common stock, the plaintiffs (Quinn Emanuel’s clients), realized that their stock had been issued at a far lower valuation than the valuation at which Microsoft’s investment had been made.
When they realized their stock was worth only a fraction of what they thought they were getting, the founders dumped the firm, which turned around and filed a lien against the company for any settlement proceeds. ConnectU hired Boies, Schiller & Flexner (which recently announced fat bonuses) to try to unwind the settlement by claiming Facebook had defrauded it as to the value of the stock. Facebook, which was advised by Orrick, complained bitterly about being dragged into what it said was really a client/fee dispute. The judge agreed and dismissed all the cases, finding that ConnectU had been represented by legal and financial counsel who could have done an independent valuation at any time but failed to do so.
Somehow, they got from that disaster of an engagement into even more trouble. While spinning the deal in marketing materials, the firm published the confidential settlement amount. We now know the Winkelvoss brothers (the ConnectU owners on whom “Zuck” bailed) got $65 million. What makes the disclosure doubly gasp-worthy is that the parties had gone to great lengths to keep the terms confidential, including by clearing the court room for some hearings.
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Seriously, in the wake of these mistakes, I don't know how QE can tout itself as a topnotch litigation boutique – these are incredibly avoidable mistakes. If a firm can't get even the most basic things right, how can it perform on the complicated and more serious matters? What QE is failing to recognize is that, particularly in this economic climate, there are a million firms out there with a million dollars ready to handle litigation matters at discount prices with a premium on service – something QE is clearly not doing. QE – look into the abyss, it is the abyss staring back at you.
Seriously, in the wake of these mistakes, I don't know how QE can tout itself as a topnotch litigation boutique – these are incredibly avoidable mistakes. If a firm can't get even the most basic things right, how can it perform on the complicated and more serious matters? What QE is failing to recognize is that, particularly in this economic climate, there are a million firms out there with a million dollars ready to handle litigation matters at discount prices with a premium on service – something QE is clearly not doing. QE – look into the abyss, it is the abyss staring back at you.