A New Partnership May Not Mean Trouble-Free Venture

IRVINE — Breaking away from a law firm to start your own can bring its own set of problems.

Jay McCauley and Chris Dubia left the Costa Mesa office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in February, 1990, to form McCauley & Dubia, specializing in business litigation. The firm lasted less than two years; Dubia left in January.

Dubia says the problem was conflicting personalities. “It’s a different world from practicing in a large institution,” he said. “The interpersonal relationships between the founding partners are crucial for success. Jay and I had different management styles.”

Dubia has since joined Pinto & Gromet, a small real estate specialist in Irvine. It’s now Pinto, Gromet & Dubia.

McCauley won’t comment on Dubia’s departure, except to say that the firm itself has not broken up. He pointed out that he is working with the same seven lawyers and serving the same clients as before Dubia’s departure. The firm has been renamed McCauley & Rasmussen--Daniel L. Rasmussen was among the original group that left Paul, Hastings.

That the two name partners of McCauley & Dubia had different personalities is not bad in itself. The original idea was to have the gregarious Dubia work as “Mr. Outside”--developing relationships with clients--to McCauley’s “Mr. Inside,” the studious strategy-maker.

But the differences that were intended to be a dynamic mixture ended up dividing the two.

“Law partnerships are like marriages,” Dubia said. “I still speak to (my former partners), but things have changed. It’s going to take some time.”