Heller Ehrman LLP v. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

CUÉLLAR, J.

Like "cloud-capp'd towers," "gorgeous palaces," and perhaps someday even "the great globe itself," many arrangements endure for some time but eventually dissolve. 1 So too with certain law partnerships-including firms that are retained, before they dissolve, to handle matters on an hourly basis. The question before us is whether a dissolved law firm retains a property interest in such legal matters that are in progress-but not completed-at the time of dissolution. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit asks us to answer this question, which implicates both common…