Post & Schell CEO credited with firm's success

03/22/06

Post & Schell CEO credited with firm's success

Five years ago, Post & Schell appointed healthcare litigator Brian Peters CEO of the firm. Since then, the firm has made numerous major advancements. Today, the firm applauds Peters' leadership as instrumental in making the firm a power player.

Since Peters' appointment as CEO, the Philadelphia-based firm has moved into new offices, raised starting associate salaries three times and implemented higher billing rates. Profits per partner reportedly increased radically.

By recruiting 23 partners from large firms such as Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Duane Morris, Saul Ewing, and Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen, the firm has doubled in size. The firm has also added practices including white-collar criminal defense, transactional and regulatory healthcare, environmental, energy and labor law. Most recently, the firm opened an office in Washington, DC.

Debevoise & Plimpton reports record growth
New York-based Debevoise & Plimpton has announced double-digit increases in revenues and profits for 2005, owing to growth in its international offices.

The firm's annual revenue increased to $536 million, and its average profit per equity partner increased to $1.7 million. It attributes the growth to its foreign offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt and Moscow. While the firm's mergers and acquisition, insurance, international arbitration, aircraft finance and securities played a major role in this robust growth, its private equity practice was the key to its impressive financial results.

White & Case to change management structure
International firm White & Case is considering a transition in its management structure and expansion strategies. The firm is planning to introduce a new senior partner role, a two-tier management board, an extended network of regional management and/or a non-lawyer management position.

The firm currently operates under an eight-member management board, supervised by managing partner Duane Wall, who is to step down in 2008. The firm feels the need for more than one full time manager who can only implement changes with the approval of at least 85% of the firm's equity partners.

Analyzing the law firm associate salary wars
For the past several months, news of salary increases for first-year attorneys has made headlines. Most firms attribute these raises to growing firm revenues and increasing competition between law firms.

What remains to be seen is whether or not these raises give firms a recruiting advantage. For instance, the average law school graduate in Boston will stay in Boston to practice even though New York firms pay roughly $5,000-$10,000 more.

Experts predict that in the long run, these salary increases will mount pressure on associates to bill more hours. Law firms can avoid this problem by either absorbing the cost of the pay raises or paying partners less, options favored by few firms.

Lawyer Joke of the day

This lawyer joke might not be as funny as some of our regular ones, but something about it rang true to us. We all had those classes where the professor seemed to be rambling on for his or her own edification. In this joke, it's a Contracts class.

A blizzard struck a law school town one February evening, and the next morning the streets were impassable.

One law student, who lived two miles from the campus, woke up and heard on the radio that the trains were not running. Dutifully, he trudged through the snow-filled sidewalks, arriving twenty minutes late for his Contracts class.

At the podium, the Professor was lecturing to an audience of one.

Instead of taking his regular seat, the student slipped into the seat next to the other fellow. The new arrival listened to the lecture. After a while, he leaned toward the other student.

"What's he talking about?" he whispered.

"How should I know?" the other student replied. "I only got here five minutes before you did."