Client Interest in Flex Rates, Contingencies Prompts Akin Partner to Open Boutique
San Francisco lawyer Steven Kaufhold has been hearing more and more from clients who want flexible rate structures.
So the securities litigator, who recently left Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, has launched his own firm to accommodate them. This month he opened Kaufhold Gaskin, according to the Recorder.
Kaufhold tells the legal publication he’d been wanting to open his own firm for a while, but it’s only been in the last few years that clients have had an interest in flexible rate structures, something larger firms still shy away from.
“[Clients] were interested in straight contingency in the context of business litigation,” Kaufhold tells the Recorder. “Akin has done a couple of contingency cases that have been really successful but by far the primary business plan is to get premium rates by the hour.”
Kaufhold declined to reveal specific rates, but tells the paper he plans to drop his hourly rate by 20 percent.
