My Shingle

Another large firm lawyer goes solo – and it’s all about the [lower] rates

Carolyn Elefant — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:06:47 +0000

One of the unintended consquences of the expansion of large law firms is that this trend may drive more lawyers to start their own firms. Think about it – though large firms hope that increased size will foster economies of scale and result in savings, there’s still a whole lot of overhead involved in running a big firm. So to increase profits, firms will cut non-producing partners from the ranks and raise hourly rates.

So what’s a lawyer to do when his clients can no longer afford him? Most of the conventional wisdom that I see here on the web would counsel lawyers in this position to cut clients who can’t pay and raise rates even more as proof of value. Fortunately, most lawyers, myself included, don’t buy that logic; we realize that there’s a market out there for rates that are lower than market but nonetheless substantial enough to make big profits. And that seems to have been the motivation for Simon Bloom, a former attorney at Biglaw firm Powell Goldstein, who just put up a shingle, according to this article, Powell Goldstein Lawyer Steps Out to Open His Own Firm (3/15/07).

Listen to what Goldstein had to say:

“It’s always been a dream of mine to go out on my own and offer my services to a wider market,” said Bloom, 35, of his decision to open his own firm. He had practiced at Powell Goldstein since 1997. He explained that big-firm rates were pricing him out of what he sees as a “huge middle market.”
He said that at Powell Goldstein he billed clients $385 an hour, adding that his rate there was about to increase to $405 an hour. “Only the Fortune 1000 could afford my rates — and there are only so many of those clients to go around that have real estate issues,” he said. His new rate is $295. “If you want a Powell Goldstein-quality trial lawyer, you’re not going to get a better deal,” he said.

My thoughts exactly.

New Women’s Firm Provides Family Friendly Service

Carolyn Elefant — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 03:54:42 +0000

This short blurb from the Nashville Business Journal (6/12/06) announces the formation of an all female law firm, the Harpeth Law Group, comprised of Kristi Dearwood, Caitlin Noe Moon and Christina Ferrell Daugherty. The announcement states that the firm “is billing itself as a provider of “family-friendly” legal services.” And according to the website, the firm is one of the area’s only all-woman firms.

Alaska Lawyer Goes Solo

Carolyn Elefant — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:42:36 +0000

There’s soon to be another new solo on the block, Steve Wells of the Alaska Blawg, who’s leaving the Public Defender’s office to start a new firm (hat tip to Kevin at Lex Blog for mentioning this). Steve writes that:

This is one of the saddest and yet most exciting posts I have written. For the past several months, I have been doing a lot of soul searching regarding my future. I knew when I took this position that it would be for roughly three years, give or take a few months, maybe a year, on either side.

The reason is that this particular position will ultimately burn out whoever has it….

I’m heading into private practice, hanging out a shingle. I’m going to be renting space from a friend of mine who has his own office, which should minimize expenses and give me a good head start.

What’s so amazing about blogs is that just a couple of years ago, sitting here as an energy regulatory solo in the D.C. area, I’d have never known about an Alaskan colleague who’s joining the big happy family of shinglers.