Boutique law firm

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A boutique law firm is a law firm specializing in a niche area of law practice. While a general practice law firm includes various unrelated practice areas within a single firm, a boutique firm specializes in one or a select few practice areas. There may be some confusion as legal publications refer to any small- or mid-sized firm as a boutique, though firms with fewer than 100 attorneys generally count. Boutique should apply to those firms that focus on particular areas, regardless of size, though they are typically smaller, except for a few firms such as Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner or Fish & Richardson with over 400 attorneys. [1]

Contents

History

United States

In the 1980s, American mid-size law firms began losing ground due to consolidation in the legal market. [2] They have been the primary means by which larger law firms from regional centers expanded in key new markets such as New York City. [3] For example, Atlanta-based Alston & Bird acquired 50-lawyer German-focused corporate boutique Walter, Conston, Alexander & Green, P.C. in 2001. [4] The same year, Boston-based legacy firm Bingham Dana & Gould (now known as Bingham McCutchen) merged with boutique litigation shop Richards & O'Neill and Dallas-based Jenkens & Gilchrist absorbed Parker Chapin Flattau & Klimpl. In 2007, Texas firm Vinson & Elkins acquired Cronin & Vris, a small bankruptcy boutique. [5] [6]

The pendulum began to swing back away from consolidation toward the formation of smaller boutique firms with the downturn of the economy in late 2008 and early 2009 as recession-proof niche practices began to separate themselves from the struggling behemoths. [7] For example, Washington, D.C.–based Hausfeld LLP spun out of Cohen Milstein and Birmingham, Alabama–based Frohsin & Barger, LLC spun out of the southern regional firm Baker Donelson. Both Hausfeld and Frohsin & Barger have been cited as examples by The National Law Journal as "somewhat recession-proof" boutiques. [8] Other boutiques, such as Waesche, Sheinbaum & O'Regan, have dissolved.

Boutique law firms have maintained their competitive edge in a number of fields. Firms like Seattle-based Harris & Moure remain a competitive force in the international law practice. [9] The complexities of intellectual property, especially patent law, have made IP boutiques still competitive, including Fish & Richardson, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, Oblon, Spivak, Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner, and Wood, Herron & Evans, although New York City IP boutiques Pennie & Edmonds largely joined Jones Day, Fish & Neave merged with Boston-based Ropes & Gray, and a number of Morgan & Finnegan lawyers joined Texas-based Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell. [10] [11] [12] Additionally, Alexandria-based IP boutique Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis merged with Pittsburgh-based Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney in 2005, Cushman, Darby & Cushman was absorbed by national firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman (then Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro), Houston-based Arnold, White & Durkee merged with Howrey (then Howrey & Simon), Los Angeles–based Lyon & Lyon dissolved in 2002, and Silicon Valley boutique Skjerven Morrill & MacPherson LLP dissolved in 2003.

Litigation and corporate boutique law firms based in Europe include Oppenhoff & Partner.

Major boutique firms by specialty

Intellectual property

Labor and employment

Litigation

Technology and venture capital

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "About Us". Fish & Richardson P.C. Archived from the original on Mar 13, 2010.
  2. ↑ Tamar Lewin, "Business and the Law: Smaller Firms are Vanishing", The New York Times , March 9, 1987.
  3. ↑ Jan Hoffman, "Oldest Law Firm is Courtly, Loyal and Defunct", The New York Times , October 2, 1994.
  4. ↑ "History". Alston + Bird LLP. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30.
  5. ↑ Vinson & Elkins LLP – Announcements [ dead link ]
  6. ↑ Edmond, Charlotte (Aug 13, 2007). "Former Wachtell team joins Vinson". Law.com International. Archived from the original on Mar 31, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  7. ↑ Pasternak, Petra (February 11, 2009). "Large Firm Layoffs Lead to Small Firm Startups". Small Firm Business. Law.com. The Recorder. Archived from the original on Jun 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ Sloan, Karen (February 9, 2009). "Survival plans". National Law Journal . Archived from the original on Feb 11, 2009.
  9. ↑ Taylor, Steven T. (January–February 2009). "Riding the net's second wave : how lawyers and their firms are applying web tools in game-changing ways". Law Practice Magazine. American Bar Association. Archived from the original on 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  10. ↑ Jones Day – News/Press – Pennie & Edmonds Lawyers to Join Jones Day
  11. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2008-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ↑ "Morgan & Finnegan to Fold into Locke Lord - Law360".
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