The New York Law Journal (March 27, 2017) – Randolph Adler Jr. and Michael Chung, two former associates once caught up in a wave of mass layoffs in Big Law, are taking a six-strong team from Dentons to Fox Rothschild in New York.
The move comes more than two years after Adler and Michael Chung merged RK Adler—a boutique they formed in 2009 after being let go by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom—into Dentons. Adler and Chung, who were partners at Dentons and will now hold the same role at Fox Rothschild, are taking with them three associates and an assistant. Adler will serve as co-chair of his new firm’s emerging companies and startup group.
“Our expertise is finding companies that are ‘hockey sticking,’” said Adler, using startup speak for those on the way up. “So we wanted a firm with a solid plan for the future.”
Fox Rothschild, having just re-organized some of its top leadership roles, has been on a growth spurt of its own in recent years. The firm has opened or expanded offices in places like Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis and San Francisco after combining with local shops. Fox Rothschild also has an office in Pittsburgh, a city that Adler believes is on its way to joining New York as a key hub for the growing East Coast technology sector. (Adler sits on the board of All Star Code Inc., a New York-based nonprofit that prepares young men of color for technology industry jobs and which is expanding its programs to the Steel City.)
Catherine Michaelson, president of New York-based legal recruiting firm Michaelson Associates LLC, brokered the move of Adler and Chung’s team to Fox Rothschild.