Are insurance defense firms in 'aggressive hiring mode'? New hires sought amid salary disadvantage
An administrative partner at Tyson & Mendes has painted a bleak picture for insurance defense law firms seeking to boost their head count. (Image from Shutterstock)
An administrative partner at Tyson & Mendes has painted a bleak picture for insurance defense law firms seeking to boost their head count.
“Insurance defense attorneys are often moving out of the insurance defense practice. They’re choosing to move to an area of litigation where they can make more money and deal with less stress,” Tyson & Mendes administrative partner Cayce Lynch told Law.com. “They’ve done their time, they’re burnt out and ready for the new opportunity.”
As lawyers leave, insurance defense firms face a hiring obstacle: lower salaries.
“Our salaries offered in this practice are so much lower than other firms in litigation outside of the insurance arena,” Lynch said.
Salaries are low because insurance companies are tamping down rate increases. And lawyers are stressed because of insurer staffing guidelines for cases, she said. At the same time, demand is increasing because of an increase in tort claims in several states, Law.com reports in a separate story.
Tyson & Mendes is paying significantly higher salaries since the COVID-19 pandemic, and rate increases have not kept up, Lynch said.
“It’s coming out of profits, which can be very difficult because we have the lowest margins, I daresay, in any field of legal practice,” she said.
Tyson & Mendes is nonetheless on good financial footing, with revenue projected to increase about 20% this year, Lynch said. And her firm is growing, as are other insurance defense firms—including Marshall Dennehey, Goldberg Segalla, Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani.
Wilson Elser has increased its head count by nearly 400 lawyers since 2020, according to Daniel McMahon, the firm’s chair.
“We are in an aggressive hiring mode,” McMahon told Law.com.
