About 60 attorneys departed from Howrey in the year before January 2011, including co-chairs of the firm's antitrust and litigation practices.
Winston & Strawn reportedly considered merger with Howrey in late January, The firm continued to lose partners as a group of 11 attorneys from Howrey's Chicago office moved to
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, including the office's managing partner and the class action defense practice leader. On March 9, 2011, the Executive Committee of Howrey LLP announced that, pursuant to a vote by the firm’s partnership, it would dissolve the existing Howrey partnership, effective March 15, 2011 and commence an orderly wind down of its affairs. On March 31, 2011 Howrey LLP closed its doors laying off all of its employees. In April 2011, Trepel McGrane Greenfield LLP, a law firm headquartered in San Jose, California, representing a group of alleged creditors of Howrey LLP, filed an involuntary
Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against the law firm with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. That involuntary Chapter 7 case was converted to a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in June 2011 at the request of the law firm. On July 6, 2011, Howrey filed schedules of assets and liabilities with the bankruptcy court which listed assets of $138.7 million and liabilities of $107 million. On a motion by Howrey the case was converted back to a Chapter 7 case effective December 1, 2015. A motion for the sale of property filed by the trustee was scheduled for hearing on December 29, 2023. and the case remained pending in February 2026. ==Former locations==