Blank Rome

Joining the rush of American law firms seeking to have a presence in China, Blank Rome said Monday that it has opened an office in Shanghai, and that it plans to serve Western clients with business there, as well as Chinese companies that want to do business in the United States. Firm cochairman Alan Hoffman said the goal is for the office to help clients transact both outbound and inbound business, and that it would be linked closely with the firm's office in Hong Kong, which opened in 2006.

Fred Blume, 72, chairman emeritus of the prestigious Blank Rome law firm in Philadelphia, died Monday, April 8, at his Penn Valley home after a long illness. For several decades, Mr. Blume battled a rare pancreatic tumor, said his wife, Sylvia "Sivy" Blume. Despite his illness, he served as Blank Rome's managing partner and chief executive officer from 2003 to 2006. "He was totally and completely dedicated to Blank Rome," his wife said. Morey Rosenbloom, a longtime friend and partner at the firm, said: "He was a lawyer's lawyer.

A federal judge has effectively blocked an agreement that would have limited to $50 million the liability of a Philadelphia law firm in connection to the mercurial rise and collapse of a Florida savings and loan. Late Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas N. O'Neill denied an order that would have approved a $50 million settlement between Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley and the plaintiffs - the Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corp. and the failed bank's shareholders. That $50 million settlement would have taken Blank Rome off the hook in any upcoming suits against Sunrise Savings & Loan Assocation - the Boynton Beach, Fla., thrift that went under after making bad real estate loans with the money of its depositors, mostly Florida retirees.

Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley, one of Philadelphia's largest and most prominent law firms, yesterday agreed to pay $50 million to settle claims against it for its involvement in the collapse of a Florida savings and loan association in 1985. The payment, if approved by a federal judge overseeing civil suits filed in the matter, would be the largest legal-malpractice settlement in U.S. history. The previous largest legal-malpractice settlement involved the New York firm of Rogers & Wells.

A former secretary for the Center City law firm of Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges she stole almost $211,000 from a bankrupt company whose trustee was represented by the law firm. Theresa Baylor, 40, of Philadelphia, was charged Wednesday with 12 counts of bank fraud after allegedly forging 12 checks with a total value of $210,860 from the estate of Kenval Marketing Corp. of Wayne. At the time of the alleged thefts, Baylor was a secretary in Blank Rome's financial-services department and worked for the lawyer who was representing the court-appointed trustee in the bankruptcy proceedings, the indictment alleged.

Sixteen lawyers at the Center City law firm of Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley have been given pink slips, David Girard-diCarlo, managing partner of the firm, said yesterday. The layoffs were part of "across-the-board" cutbacks in the firm's practice groups, including the litigation, corporate, financial-services and real estate departments, he said. The cutbacks follow similar moves recently by other major law firms in Philadelphia and across the nation as the legal profession pares its workforce to meet the changing demands of a weakening economy.

Jerome Richter, a longtime leader of the Blank Rome law firm who played a key role in its expansion in the United States, died Sunday at his home in Florida after a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 73. Richter was a senior partner at Blank Rome before his retirement in 2009 and had played a prominent role in recruiting lawyers and managing overall growth strategy. He was known as an accomplished strategist and trial lawyer who also handled major appellate cases and had argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Leonard P. Nalencz, 65, of Center City, a lawyer and partner with the firm of Blank Rome, died of lung cancer Saturday, Dec. 31, at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. Mr. Nalencz joined Blank Rome in 1973 and became a partner in 1977. For many years, he served as chair of Blank Rome's tax department and the combined tax and fiduciary departments. "He spent his entire career - nearly 40 years - with Blank Rome," said Alan J. Hoffman, the firm's managing partner. "His exemplary client service earned him the privilege of representing generations of families with the most intimate details of their lives.

The managing partner of Saul, Ewing, Remick & Saul has jumped ship to another Center City law firm - Blank, Rome, Comisky & McCauley. The move by Joseph B. Sturgis - who was managing partner for nine years and once headed Saul Ewing's public finance department - was effective yesterday, according to announcements from both firms. Saul Ewing named one of its partners, former SEPTA board chairman J. Clayton Undercofler, to replace Sturgis as managing partner. Sturgis will become a partner and co-chair of Blank Rome's public finance department, as well as becoming a member of the firm's management committee.

Fred Blume, 72, chairman emeritus of the prestigious Blank Rome law firm in Philadelphia, died Monday, April 8, at his Penn Valley home after a long illness. For several decades, Mr. Blume battled a rare pancreatic tumor, said his wife, Sylvia "Sivy" Blume. Despite his illness, he served as Blank Rome's managing partner and chief executive officer from 2003 to 2006. "He was totally and completely dedicated to Blank Rome," his wife said. Morey Rosenbloom, a longtime friend and partner at the firm, said: "He was a lawyer's lawyer.

Jack Harris and Buddy Berger freely admit that the timing wasn't the best. It was the fall of 2009 and Harris and Berger, colleagues in the Wilmington office of Chester County-based Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco, decided to strike out on their own. Both had worked for big firms, Harris at Reed Smith and Berger at Blank Rome, among others. They liked their situation at Riley Riper. But they had the entrepreneurial itch, and thought they might be able to do better on their own. The problem was that the legal marketplace in the fall of 2009 was in a tailspin.

Jerome Richter, a longtime leader of the Blank Rome law firm who played a key role in its expansion in the United States, died Sunday at his home in Florida after a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 73. Richter was a senior partner at Blank Rome before his retirement in 2009 and had played a prominent role in recruiting lawyers and managing overall growth strategy. He was known as an accomplished strategist and trial lawyer who also handled major appellate cases and had argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Law-firm mergers are bouncing back to their prerecession levels, providing further evidence the industry is stabilizing after the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009, according to a survey by the legal-consulting firm Altman Weil. Nationally, the Newtown Square firm said, there were 60 mergers in 2011, including a handful involving Philadelphia-area law firms. Altman Weil said the merger pace reflected confidence about expanding into new markets. "We saw a dip during the recession," Altman Weil principal Ward Bower said.

Leonard P. Nalencz, 65, of Center City, a lawyer and partner with the firm of Blank Rome, died of lung cancer Saturday, Dec. 31, at Penn Hospice at Rittenhouse. Mr. Nalencz joined Blank Rome in 1973 and became a partner in 1977. For many years, he served as chair of Blank Rome's tax department and the combined tax and fiduciary departments. "He spent his entire career - nearly 40 years - with Blank Rome," said Alan J. Hoffman, the firm's managing partner. "His exemplary client service earned him the privilege of representing generations of families with the most intimate details of their lives.

By Christopher Paslay Earlier this month, around the time the Phillies fell into their offensive funk, another local team found itself in trouble. The School Reform Commission, put in place a decade ago to help revive the city's struggling public schools, was beginning to implode. Last week, two of the SRC's five members - Robert L. Archie, its chairman, and Johnny Irizarry - announced their immediate resignations. Along with a vacancy created by David F. Girard-diCarlo's departure in February, that forced the remaining members to postpone a meeting for lack of a quorum.

TOP-10 law firms used by the school district since 2006 1. Blank Rome: $6.3 million 2. Saul Ewing: $1.16 million 3. Ballard Spahr: $848,997 4. Tucker Law Group, LLC: $581,305 5. WolfBlock: $454,496 6. Cozen & O'Connor: $434,936 7. Feldesman Tucker Leifer & Fidell: $431,015 8. Archer & Greiner: $406,755 9. Fineman Krekstein & Harris: $404,726 10. Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis: $386,655 ...

Peter Terpeluk Jr., 63, the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Economic Development Coalition in the 1980s who later was ambassador to Luxembourg from 2002 to 2005, died of a heart attack Tuesday, Aug. 23, at his home in Chevy Chase, Md. He was pronounced dead at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md. David Girard-diCarlo, a shareholder in the Philadelphia law firm Cozen O'Connor and a former chairman of the firm Blank Rome, said...

Bernard Glassman, 74, of Elkins Park, a tax and estate lawyer and senior counsel at the Blank Rome law firm in Philadelphia, died of pulmonary fibrosis Thursday, Aug. 18, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Mr. Glassman joined Blank Rome in 1975 and became a partner four years later. He was a former chair of the firm's estate and tax department, led the audit and budget committee for many years, and chaired the billing committee. Mr. Glassman was instrumental in developing the firm's financial, budgeting, and accounting systems, said Alan J. Hoffman, Blank Rome's chairman and managing partner.

By Christopher Paslay The Philadelphia School District is experiencing a leadership crisis. Amid all the controversy surrounding Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, however, it's easy to forget to ask whether the School Reform Commission is serving the interests of the city's public schools. Some education advocates have wondered if it's time to get rid of the SRC, the appointed body charged with overseeing the Philadelphia School District for the past decade. In a series of articles for the Philadelphia Public School Notebook, the activist and retired Philadelphia schoolteacher Ron Whitehorne highlighted some of the major criticisms of the SRC, including that it provides no real oversight of the superintendent, simply rubber-stamping whatever comes across its desk.