Managing partner of Akerman's Chicago office, Scott Meyers, sat down with Crain's to discuss the firm's growth strategy. Akerman, a mid-sized, full-service firm based out of Miami, opened their Chicago office two years ago with eight lawyers, which has since grown a team of 45 attorneys. Meyers tells Crain's that...
The "vast majority" of lawyers and staff from Houston-based IP boutique Novack Druce Connolly Bove & Quigg will be absorbed into the fast-growing Polsinelli, according to recent reports by The American Lawyer. Polsinelli chairman and CEO Russell Welsh told The American Lawyer that acquisition by Polsinelli, which...
Finding a foothold in the Chicago market isn't as easy for the elite 'big law' firms as they might like to believe, reports Claire Bushey of Crain's Chicago. The article looks at three national firms that had big aspirations for growth upon their respective moves to Chicago:...
Seeming to defy the laws of supply and demand, hourly billing rates at national corporate law firms have increased 3 to 4 percent per year since the recession, according to Citi Private Bank's Law Firm Group (The Wall Street Journal). In fact, they report, these rates have continued...
The frenzy of mergers between IP boutiques and national full-service firms shows no signs of abatement, The American Lawyer reports. Since April, at least eight IP firms have been acquired by Am Law 200 firms, driven largely in part by the recent changes in patent...
Partner moves were at their highest count yet in 2015, the "strongest year since 2009 for lateral partner moves at big law firms," according to The American Lawyer. ALM's Legal Intelligence branch (ALI) tracked lateral partner moves at Am Law 200 firms and found an astounding...
Intellectual property boutique Brinks, Gilson, & Leone lost four litigation partners to Midwest-based Barnes & Thornburg last week, according to The American Lawyer. This follows the recent trend for IP boutiques, many of which have either been absorbed by larger firms or have also had...
Who do the Fortune 500 corporations turn to when they need intellectual property litigators? According to a recent survey by The American Lawyer, these companies don't rely exclusively on the giant brand-name law firms, but instead often depend on mid-sized IP firms for their defense. See the survey...
The world's largest law firms are still feeling the heat from their stagnated approaches, as discussed in last week's post. A report released by CounselLink concluded that firms with 201 to 500 attorneys--termed "large enough" firms--are "increasingly winning the market share at the expense of...
Big law firms have always been pathologically conservative in updating their policies, but has this mentality begun to affect their overall profitability? The American Lawyer recently released an article investigating whether large firms’ aging partners, who often control a majority of the client base, habitually put their self-interests...