After transferring the files and getting out of the lease, there are still all the physical assets to consider: expensive art, dusty law books, an endless supply of pencils. Companies are liquidated all the time, but big law firms? Now that’s rare. Here’s what it would look like if a firm took its assets to auction
The office supplies
At an auction, liquidators often selloffice supplies first and at the biggest discounts, says David Ordon, president of the liquidation firm Danbury Sales Inc. When customers see hundreds of staplers and pencils going for almost nothing, they get excited and are more likely to pay top dollar for everything else on sale — even if those deals aren’t as good.
The art collection
Art collections at law firms are among the best in the country, says Fela Grunwald, an art consultant who advises a number of big Bay Street offices. “If a major firm decided to sell its collection, there would definitely be a lot of interest in the art community.” A firm’s art usually belongs to the partnership, but not always. At Heenan Blaikie, the art belongedto one man: Roy Heenan.
The library
“There is absolutely no market for used law books,” says Ted Tjaden, a lawyer at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP and a former law librarian. “It’s sad, in a way. Law librarians love their collections, but if a firm dissolved, most of the books in its library would probably go into the dumpster.”
The furniture
Flagship furniture, like the chairs that belonged to senior partners, would likely get packaged and sold alongside the rest of the furniture in the room, which could be pretty average, says Ordon. That way, the expensive chairs make the cheaper stuff seem more valuable.
The letterhead
“If a pen has a firm name on it, we could sell it. But not paper with a firm’s letterhead — all of that gets tossed,” says Ordon. “Someone could do far more damage with letterhead than with a pen.”
What’s in a name?
“If I were liquidating a big firm like Heenan Blaikie, the name alone would make the value of the furniture go up 20 percent. A big name is everything.”
— David Ordon, president of liquidation firm Dansbury Sales Inc.