Philadelphia-based law firm Schnader Harrison is closing

Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, a nearly 90-year-old law firm with roots in Philadelphia, is dissolving.

The firm is winding down operations with help from outside counsel, Leslie Corwin of Duane Morris, who specializes in dissolution of law firms and other businesses, said Keith Whitson, a Pittsburgh-based partner who serves as the law firm’s general counsel.

Many of Schnader’s 91 attorneys have already found new law firms, Whitson said, and the firm’s goal is to help all attorneys and staff find new employment.

“We’re all very sad that we’ve come to this point,” Whitson said. “We want to be sure we preserve our client relationships, protect our staff and attorneys, and maintain the legacy we’ve created over almost 90 years.”

Whitson declined to discuss the cause of the firm’s struggles but said “it became clear last week that this was the path we had to follow.”

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All attorneys and staff will stay employed with Schnader until the dissolution is complete, Whitson said. He declined to discuss the timeline for closing or what firms are hiring Schnader’s lawyers.

“While our firm ultimately will go out of existence, the role that our talented lawyers have played in such monumental developments as the civil rights movement, the establishment of the State of Israel, and the creation of the Uniform Commercial Code and the Uniform Probate Code, will have an everlasting impact on our society,” Whitson added.

The firm was founded in 1934 as Schnader & Lewis.

Former Pennsylvania Attorney General William Schnader had just run for governor unsuccessfully and wanted to go back to practicing law. He wanted to join a firm with a mentee, Bernard Segal, but Segal was Jewish, and no other Philadelphia firms would hire a Jewish lawyer at the time. So Schnader formed a new firm with his law school classmate Francis Lewis, bringing along Segal who later became a named partner.

The firm became known for its litigation practice and grew to a roster of about 200 lawyers. They’ve served as counsel on some high-profile Pennsylvania cases, including three at once in 2016, when the firm was simultaneously representing former U.S. Rep Chaka Fattah, former Penn State president Graham Spanier, and comedian Bill Cosby.

Schnader had more than 300 lawyers in the early 2000s after merging with two smaller firms in Philadelphia and then Boston, but the Boston merger was later undone, and the firm ultimately settled back into a headcount of about 200 lawyers.

That number began to shrink in recent years. Schnader was down to 122 lawyers in June 2022, and then to the 91 it has now, according to archived versions of the firm’s website.

As recently as December 2022, however, the firm was pledging a “commitment to future growth” in announcing the additions of Whitson from Pittsburgh, Terry Loscalzo of Philadelphia, and Rich Barkasy of Wilmington, Del., to the firm’s management team. Along with those locations, the firm also has offices in Cherry Hill, New York, and San Francisco, as well as an outpost in Jakarta, by way of an association with the law firm Yang & Co.

Just a few months ago, high-ranking litigators Bruce Merenstein and Samuel Silver, who had been leaders within the firm, left Schnader. At that time, The Legal Intelligencer reported that Schnader was in talks about a potential merger.