Practice Management

I recently saw this description for a mid-level job on a website for a major corporation. And, you would think that if big corporations are getting this then small entrepreneurial law firms would get it as well. A small but growing law firm can add strategic hires, partners, lawyers and collaborators anywhere regardless of where your firm is located. It can be accomplished without major increases in overhead for office space, equipment, phone systems, and the like.

Bill White is running for governor of Texas currently. But, in real life he is a dynamic entrepreneur. I recall once when he was asked about what it takes to start a business, he said in this day and age if you have a phone and a computer you have a business.

The same is true for law firms. I tend to think that lawyers put too much emphasis on the trappings of what a law firm is perceived to be. A law firm is not about office space, or the degrees on a wall, or the commute to work, or the suite that is worn, or the law library, or the fancy decor and office furnishings. It is not even about body count. But, it is about the firm's people and the work product.

In this day and age, these people can come from anywhere. Often they do not have to move. Their lives do not have to be made more difficult. In fact, their lives can be made more simple. The acquisition costs of the talent does not have to be high. Most often, all that is needed is literally a phone and a computer. Just as you can start a law firm that way, you can expand a law firm that way as well.

This works a couple of different ways:

1.  Personnel Centric. I know I have told this story before, but it bares retelling. A few years back I received a call about settling a case from the in-house counsel of a major financial institution out of Delaware. I knew the attorney as she had been on the other side of cases against me in Houston, Texas. I kept bugging her about when she moved to Delaware. She did not want to talk about it but invited me to call her on her cell phone. As it turned out she did not move to Delaware.  In fact, she was working as in-house counsel from her home a few miles from where I worked at the time in my home. She saw working for the in-house department of a major financial institution, where she could get an east coast salary with Houston overhead. And, she did not have to move anywhere but home, cutting her commute. She told me her secretary and receptionist were in Delaware, but her paralegal was in Kansas City, Missouri and worked out of her home there. She had only ever met them once in person. It dawned on me then that big business gets it at a time when solos and small firms are trying to immolate the old fashion law firm. But, the point is that location of their people did not matter for this company. All that mattered was talent and substantially reduced overhead.

2.  Location Centric. The opposite is also true. Sometimes what is needed are boots on the ground, so to speak, in the practice of law. Court hearings need to be covered. I know of a major Texas law firm that represents financial institutions in bankruptcy work through out and outside the State of Texas. They have a large set up centralized in a one major Texas city. But, Texas is a huge state, with 21 metropolitan areas and any number of courts. Instead of opening up branch offices in all of their markets, they have decided to hire local counsel on a full-time basis and have each of them work out of their homes near the courts in which the appearances need to be made.

The point is that whether expanding a law firm's infrastructure or expanding its reach, it can be done from anywhere.