A southern business publication recently called me in connection with an article that he was writing about the merger of law firms in the south. He said that his research had led him to the conclusion that our firm was a candidate for a merger with a large law firm looking to beef up its litigation practice. He had noticed that we were a 60 lawyer firm heavily involved in commercial, self-insured and insurance litigation. He said that other firms similar to ours had been absorbed by mega-firms in other states. He asked if we might be merging anytime soon and asked that I explain why or why not.
I told him that our involvement with USLAW Network had led us to conclude that we would not be considering a merger at all. The writer knew very little about the concept of USLAW and asked that I take a few minutes to explain what it was all about. I realized that I was not speaking to either an attorney or a client who regularly utilized the services of a lawyer so I would have to make it short and simple. In a nutshell, I said, USLAW gives our firm all the benefits of a large firm without the overhead.
He wouldn’t take that for an answer. He wanted more details. I explained that if Carr Allison was merely merged into a larger firm, we would have more lawyers but it would be unlikely that the new large firm would conduct business in more than a few states. Even most very large firms only operate in 4 or 5 states unless they are truly gigantic---1,000 or more. With USLAW, I get to tap the resources of firms in more than 40 states and it doesn’t cost my client any money for some of those resources. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t send an e-mail request for information about a new area of law or a newly named expert witness to contact partners from Massachusetts to California and from Florida to Seattle, Washington.
In addition, let’s say that my corporate client in Alabama needs assistance in an area of the law that is so unique that even a specialist boutique firm in Alabama can’t provide that area of expertise. On my client’s behalf I would send an e-mail to all the USLAW contact partners and ask for legal assistance in that unique area of the law. I might get 2-3 e-mails back from USLAW firms with that experience. I can then ask each to give me details on their lawyer’s qualifications in that area. Before the day is out, I have one of the best lawyers in the country working with me to solve the unique legal issue faced by my Alabama client.
In this day and age with publicly traded companies being so closely watched by their shareholders and analysts who demand reduced operating expenses, clients are looking for the most reasonable legal costs without sacrificing the quality of the legal product. As far as I am concerned, a quality national legal network like USLAW is the only answer to this quality/cost dilemma.
Before the interview was concluded, I think the writer began to understand what we had going for us with USLAW. “Sounds like to me you guys would be foolish to consider a merger with a mega-firm,” he said, “but how do you guys make sure that you have good firms in the network.”
I explained that recommendations often came from our USLAW Client Advisors or from current USLAW member firms that had worked with other firms around the country. I went further to explain that we always require detailed applications and our board members may interview lawyers from applicant firms. No firm is ever accepted these days until at least 3 other firms in that state have been considered.
When we finished the interview, the writer said that I had given him the idea for a new article next time around….National Legal Networks. We’ll see.
We hope that you enjoy this edition of the USLAW newsletter. Let me know personally if you have any suggestions for future articles or suggestions on how we can change our newsletter to better fit your needs. My e-mail address is cfc@carrallison.com.
