Handler Thayer LLP, a prominent Chicago-based law firm for family offices, celebrities, athletes and other high-net-worth clients, has announced its dissolution, with its partners heading to two separate firms.
“There were differences among the partners for an ongoing period of time,” Thomas Handler told Crain Currency. “I was just no longer willing to deal with it, so it forced matters to a head. Five lawyers and one support staff left; everybody else stayed here, roughly 30 people,” said Handler, referring to his newly formed Handler Law firm to continue serving family offices.
Lawyers leading Handler Law, LPP include former Handler Thayer partners Mark Anderson and Andrew Morton, with an additional four partners from outside firms set to join as well. Meanwhile, former Handler Thayer partners Steve Thayer, Eric Kalnins and Lacee Wentworth have joined Indianapolis-based Ice Miller and established a new family office advanced-planning practice at that firm.
The dissolution was announced June 30.
The original firm was founded in 1983 and specialized in setting up family offices for clients, with legal services focused on tax and estate planning. Handler Thayer’s typical client had roughly $400 million to $500 million in assets, while Thomas Handler has represented at least 100 families with $1 billion or more.
Handler Thayer’s closure follows a lawsuit filed two months ago by its former client, the nonprofit Giving Back Fund. GBF was the fiscal sponsor of the Chasing M’s Foundation established by Damar Hamlin, the NFL player who suffered cardiac arrest in a nationally televised game on Jan. 2, 2023. Hamlin’s foundation, which ran a community toy drive, received over $8 million in donations following his on-field collapse and subsequent recovery.
In a complaint filed April 30, 2024, the Giving Back Fund claimed that Handler Thayer and its partner Andrew Morton “seemingly engaged in a conflict of interest and made unauthorized statements to the press,” beginning with an Arizona Republic article published Feb. 8, 2023. The article, regarding funds raised by Hamlin’s foundation, stated that “none of the contributions are tax-deductible,” citing Morton as its source and identifying him as legal counsel to the Giving Back Fund, according to the lawsuit.
In its complaint, the GBF said Morton’s statements were “inaccurate or at minimum misleading.” The GBF also alleged that after it terminated its attorney-client relationship with Handler Thayer, Morton continued to communicate with GBF clients by informing them of negative stories that would soon appear in the press and “that they should leave GBF.”
In response to the GBF’s lawsuit, Handler told Crain Currency, “I think the case has been overblown in terms of its merit, and I think my partners’ likely counterclaim has more teeth than their lawsuit, but we’ll see how that all plays out over time.”
As of July 19, neither Morton or Handler have filed a counterclaim against The Giving Back Fund.
Sportico has reported that in May 2023, the Giving Back Fund’s board of directors retained the Boston-based law firm Rubin and Rudman to investigate claims made about Giving Back Fund founder and CEO Marc Pollick. Multiple board members have resigned from the Giving Back Fund, including sports philanthropy consultant Joanne Pasternack. In her resignation letter from March 2023, Pasternack wrote that the “organization is broken,” as she described issues related to the nonprofit’s operations, finances, compliance and culture under Pollick.
In an update provided to Crain Currency, a representative for The Giving Back Fund said its Board Chair asked Pasternack to step down twice and planned a vote to remove her before she ultimately resigned from the board.