Firm handshake
Hirsch shows he's not the retiring type
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A correction was made to this article on Aug. 22, 2004.
The effort of a high-profile law firm to retire one of its founding partners has resulted in a major revolt.
A day after Barry Hirsch's former law firm revealed that it was trying to ease him into retirement, the vet entertainment attorney revealed details of his new shop, which he said would represent the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts and Sofia Coppola.
Hirsch, who is also an ordained minister and psychotherapist who has officiated at two of Lopez's marriages, is known as a zealous negotiator who has earned the ire of many in the industry on the receiving end of his hardball tactics.
Many clients, however, have pledged their loyalty, and Hirsch has forged business relationships -- such as with Francis Ford Coppola -- that have lasted for decades.
The new firm, Hirsch Wallerstein Matlof & Fishman, will be based in Century City and headed by Hirsch along with three below-the-letterhead colleagues who also defected from Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris: Robert Wallerstein, David Matlof and Howard Fishman.
Hirsch said the new firm will rep all the clients the quartet had at their previous employer: Lopez, Roberts and Sofia Coppola along with Antoine Fuqua, Tea Leoni, Jason Schwartzman and helmer Lee Tamahori.
Jim Jackoway, a partner in the existing firm, didn't dispute any of those names but, without elaborating, said, "It would be inaccurate to say everyone they represented is going."
Hirsch, 70, said the move was not a case of out with the old -- instead, he feels that the group's clients will be better represented in "a more intimate setting."
"When I joined in 1980, I had a vision of a smaller firm fulfilling the special needs of special clients," he said. "As the firm continued to grow, the bigness seemed to get in the way and derail that vision."
Sources say partners at Hirsch's former firm had been seeking to push him out, feeling that it was time for a change. They then launched what amounted to a preemptive strike by announcing his departure late Sunday, before Hirsch could do so himself.
The partners stated that they were surprised by Hirsch's choice to leave and open his own practice, as well as disappointed that terms of a retirement package could not be reached (Daily Variety, Aug. 16).
Hirsch did not specifically address the retirement talks. Instead he chose to echo his press release by paraphrasing Mark Twain, saying, "Rumors of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated."
Given that Hirsch still represents such high-profile clients, some in the industry wondered about the rationale behind the attempt to revise or diminish his role.
Jackoway Tyerman retains its own lengthy roster of showbiz heavyweights, including David Letterman, Jude Law and the creators of "Will & Grace."
(Brian Lowry contributed to this story.)
