One of Rhode Island’s most prominent law firms – and one of the nation’s oldest – is closing its doors.
Tillinghast Licht LLP, which traces its origins back to 1818, said it is shutting down because its shrinking number of lawyers made it increasingly difficult for it to continue as a full-service legal practice.
The fifth-largest firm in the state in terms of the size of its staff, Tillinghast Licht featured well-connected people in local political circles, including former Lt. Gov. Richard A. Licht, former House Speaker Joseph DeAngelis and former Warwick Mayor Joseph W. Walsh.
Managing partner David T. Reidel noted that a number of senior partners are over 60. “We don’t feel like we have the time left to grow the place internally to get to the point where we can continue to be a full-service firm,” Reidel said. “The kind of work that we do requires more depth than we have.”
Work at the firm’s offices at 10 Weybosset St., Providence, will cease by June 1, but Reidel said the name will continue on for several months as other matters are wrapped up, such as collecting legal fees and disposing of out-dated case files.
The attorneys have already notified most of their clients.
Rumors of the Tillinghast Licht’s closure have circulated for weeks after the firm’s 20 lawyers and 25 support staff members received notices about it.
Reidel, who has worked at Tillinghast for 38 years, said all but one of the associates already have found other jobs. Six of the senior partners are moving to Adler Pollock & Sheehan PC, including Reidel, Licht and DeAngelis.
Mark O. Denehy, managing partner at Adler Pollock & Sheehan, stressed that the move should not be considered a merger. “It just didn’t seem appropriate for us,” he said. “We just hired selected attorneys who thought their practice would fit with ours and ours would fit with theirs.”
Some of the new additions will be immediately made partners. “They can offer clients a deeper bench in certain places,” Denehy said. “And they have some clients that we don’t have, and we think they would fit in well here. It’s going to be a good match.”
Established in 1818, Tillinghast Licht is considered the oldest continuously operating law firm in the state and one of the oldest in the country. Reidel acknowledged feeling a bit emotional about its closure because “for me, it has been another family,” he said.
In recent years, work in public financing and lobbying has played an important role for the firm, with Licht and Walsh and other associates serving as lobbyists at the Statehouse.
Reidel said the firm explored merging with another firm, but nothing developed.
In fact, Tillinghast Licht has experienced numerous mergers over its history, the most recent a merger with the Boston firm Perkins Smith & Cohen in 2000.
Both firms had hoped to join forces to pick up business in areas between the cities, but Reidel said it never really worked. By 2004, the two firms had separated.
The partners had also briefly considered reducing their areas of practice and becoming a “boutique” firm.
For the senior partners, Adler Pollock & Sheehan offered “instant depth” that the firm couldn’t muster itself. AP&S boasts offices in Providence, Boston and New Hampshire and has 41 lawyers in Providence alone.
Keeping Tillinghast Licht open “would have worked over the short term, but we feel for the long term, it wouldn’t have remained viable,” Reidel said.
For example, he has been the only attorney at the firm handling estate planning. “What happens if I get sick?” he said.
As far as recruiting new associates: “For the kind of skills we’re looking for, not a whole bunch of people are floating around that we could just grab,” Reidel said.
And the legal and economic climate in Rhode Island didn’t help matters, he said.
When he entered the field in the early 1970s, there were about 1,000 practicing lawyers in Rhode Island. Now there are 5,000 to 6,000, he said. “Is that oversaturation? I don’t know.”
But, he said, with the economy slowing, that has left more attorneys fighting it out for less legal work. •
