2 Ga. BigLaw Partners Join No-Frills Firm
As a partner at Hunton & Williams, James Meadows billed his time at $650 per hour. Since moving on Oct. 1 to the no-frills law firm of FSB Legal Counsel, he charges half that amount.
But the rate reduction is worth it, because of the flexibility the job offers, he tells the Daily Report in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
No standard hours are required, and lawyers work from home or at their client’s offices. The resulting low overhead means that the firm’s 27 lawyers can earn equivalent money to what they made in their BigLaw jobs, if they wish, without working as hard, says Kevin Broyles, one of the attorneys who founded the six-year-old alternative firm.
Instead of working from home, Meadows has opted to rent his own law office, the legal publication notes. However, being a part of a bigger firm allows him to provide his Fortune 500 clients with the additional support they may need, yet retain the hands-on work he enjoys because it’s not too expensive for them.
Another BigLaw expatriate from Atlanta, Douglas Chalmers Jr., left a partnership at McKenna Long & Aldridge to join FSB Legal Counsel at the same time Meadows did. He says the arrangement allows him to pursue the political practice he loves, in part by being flexible with his rates.
Earlier this month, when he went on a camp trip with his son, he says, “was the first time in 12 years that I spent the weekend with my family without worrying about where I stood with my billable-hours quota.”
