U.S. law firm Barber Ranen has changed its name, a firm spokesperson said on Wednesday, after the publication of racist, antisemitic, homophobic and violently misogynistic emails written by its founding partners John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen sent shockwaves through the firm just one month after it was formed.
The Los Angeles-based firm will now be called Daugherty Lordan LLP. “Name partners Melissa Daugherty and Joe Lordan are long time colleagues who have agreed to represent our firm into the future,” the spokesperson said.
Daugherty and Lordan, who were among the firm’s eight original founders, will join its management committee. Tim Graves is staying on as CEO, the spokesperson said.
Barber and Ranen resigned from the firm that bore their name on Monday, after the 1,600-lawyer firm they left behind, Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, released a tranche of dozens of emails they wrote while employed there.
The pair formed Barber Ranen in May, bringing nearly 140 lawyers with them from their former firm.
However, a Lewis Brisbois spokesperson said Wednesday that it has received requests this week from between 10 and 20 lawyers asking to return.
“We’ve taken some of those back,” the spokesperson said, without specifying how many.
A Daugherty Lordan spokesperson did not immediately comment on the firm’s current head count.
Lewis Brisbois released the emails to media outlets beginning on Saturday. The firm said it discovered the emails — some of which dated back to 2008 — and launched an investigation after it received an anonymous complaint about Barber and Ranen after they left in early May.
One email referred to a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge as “sugar tits.” In another email, when Ranen complained to Barber about an employee working overtime, Barber responded “Kill her,” including a description of a violent sex act.
In other emails, the two men used racial, sexist and homophobic slurs.
Barber, who was firmwide managing partner at Barber Ranen, and Ranen, who was its chief financial officer, apologized in a joint statement Monday afternoon.