A former partner at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP testified yesterday that the firm got caught in a never-ending debt cycle after the economic downturn, shedding light on how the once-august legal outfit spiraled into bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. During testimony in a criminal trial against Dewey’s three former leaders, former high-level partner Jane Boisseau told a jury that once Dewey failed to meet its compensation targets in 2008, it started a system of borrowing from the next year to pay debts owed from the prior one. “The firm couldn’t afford to disappoint these major producers of business,” said Boisseau, explaining why the firm authorized the system of payments. Unable to make up its debts, Dewey filed for bankruptcy in May 2012.
