Some Midsize Firms See Profit Opportunities in Downturn
Some midsize law firms could benefit from companies hoping to hold down legal bills during the economic downturn.
Midsize firms could get legal work from companies shifting their business from large firms with higher billing rates, the National Law Journal reports. Midsize firms may also be able to snag some lawyers laid off by the big firms, which tend to harder hit by the fallout from the credit crisis.
Larry Theis, the chairman of Holme Roberts & Owen, told the National Law Journal that his Denver-based firm has already gotten some business from a client that moved its antritrust work away from an East Coast firm. “We were $250 or $300 less [per hour] than the East Coast firm,” he said.
Alan Levin, managing partner at Barnes & Thornburg based in Indianapolis, explained why his 446-lawyer firm is better insulated from hard economic times than the large firms. “Our economy is not quite as tied to the highs and lows of the financial markets,” he told the legal newspaper.
