When Mark Seiger and his partners opened their West Hartford law firm last May, they hoped cash would begin to roll into the 14-man shop by September.
So when Seiger, and his partners Charles Gfeller and Robert Laurie, received their first client payments in mid-June, it was a pleasant surprise, and one that reassured them that opening the firm in the middle of the Great Recession was the right move.
The fact that Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP also attracted big-name clients — Wells Fargo, The Hartford, Axis Capital, Travelers, John Hancock and Lloyd’s of London — didn’t hurt either.
“It was not a great time to open a new business last year, but in the legal marketplace, we saw it as an opportunity,” said Laurie, a partner with the firm, which is located in Blue Back Square. “We knew that as a smaller firm, we could cut back on the overhead and translate those efficiencies into better value for clients.”
The boutique law firm focuses on insurance, products liability and risk management for sports and recreation facilities and targets big-name clients by offering high-end expertise at cheaper rates compared with the fees charged by larger law firms.
Laurie said the firm’s small size yet deep experience in the market has attracted more than 100 clients around the world, including in Switzerland, Ireland, Bermuda and England.
Seiger said he and his partners opened their firm because of their concern about the significant overhead typically carried by large firms. Prior to opening the law firm, Seiger, Gfeller and Laurie worked together at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in Hartford, a firm employing over 650 lawyers internationally.
“Every time we turned around, we were adding more administration,” Seiger said. “Like at most major firms, the overhead expenses became significant, which we wanted to avoid.”
“We thought if we could shed ourselves of the unnecessary overhead, it would give us more flexibility to work closely with clients. Instead of using an army of associates, we are able to staff each matter with one or two experienced partners, along with an experienced associate,” Seiger added.
The new firm has also been attractive to other lawyers. Last June, Katherine Scanlon and Peter Vodola, former commercial litigators at Pullman & Comley, joined Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP.
Tough Year
Overall, 2009 was a tough year for big law firms, which laid off more than 12,000 people nationwide, including nearly 5,000 lawyers, according to LawShucks.com, a Web site that tracks the industry.
As companies and corporations looked for cost savings, the higher rates charged by larger firms “were making things even worse for them,” Laurie said.
Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP was able to reduce its own expenses by lowering overhead costs, and it has been willing to be more creative with the rates it charges clients. Law firms typically charge based on hourly rates, but because clients have been looking for more certainty in terms of how much they are going to pay for legal services, Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP has been willing to charge a flat fee for certain services instead.
For example, Seiger Gfeller Laurie LLP recently worked with a major syndicate in the Lloyd’s of London market to create a new insurance program for a particular industry. The firm charged a flat rate on some preliminary work such as policy wording, risk management and market analysis. That cost certainty allowed the syndicate to develop the program within a specific budget.
“Clients want law firms to think differently about how they provide their services and how they bill for their services,” Laurie said.
The decision to start a boutique wasn’t easy, Laurie said, noting that one of their biggest concerns was the hassle of actually running the firm’s day-to-day operations.
“The biggest concern we had is how to balance setting up the infrastructure of a business and still maximizing what we love to do, which is to practice law,” Laurie said. “That is a turnoff for most lawyers who are thinking about starting their own firm.”
One way the firm dealt with the administrative burden was to outsource certain operations and move to a largely paperless office. They use a Web-based system for document management and time billing.
In terms of business in 2010, Seiger said he is confident the firm will have a lot of work because people are becoming more litigious as a result of the poor economy. He said his firm has been seeing more disputes, especially smaller ones in the insurance and reinsurance markets.
“Years ago, a million-dollar claim would be dealt with by a couple people within the reinsurance companies sitting down, shaking hands and coming to an agreement,” Seiger said. “Now, it’s turning into drawn out litigation.”
Greg Bordonaro is a Hartford Business Journal staff writer.
