| 
Small Law Firm Scores with Big
Clients
Offers High Standards at
Low Rates
By Tommy Fernandez
At the midtown law offices of Zeichner Ellman & Krause,
partners proudly point out that the furniture is secondhand
and the carpet is far from luxurious—or even new.
“We don’t go for gold doorknobs,” says co-founder
Mark Zeichner. “We have offices that are adequate.”
At Zeichner Ellman, a 35-lawyer boutique with clients ranging
from Citigroup Private Bank to Bear Stearns & Co., frugality
is key. By skimping on overhead and by paying its attorneys
a bit less, the firm is able to beat many of its competition
on price.
In an era in which consolidation has created mega-firms, Zeichner
is a small outfit that has found a way to fight back. It directly
exploits the weakness of the legal behemoths—their bloated
costs.
Its 16 partners’ hourly fees average $370, while its
associates bill around $235. That compares with $800 for partners
and $450 for associates at the big firms.
“Given the emphasis on cost-cutting and saving in corporate
legal departments, firms like Zeichner Ellman play a valuable
role,” says Richard Zakin, executive managing director
at Strategic Legal Solutions, a recruiting firm. He notes
that corporations can typically slice 10% from their legal
bills by farming out to smaller shops all but the “bet-the-company”
cases.
Cause and Effect
Zeichner Ellman can charge such low fees because it pays less.
Associates currently get a starting annual salary of about
$95,000 versus $118,000 at big firms.
Mr. Zeichner also saves money by staying away from attorneys
just out of law school. Instead, he and partner Stuart Krause
aim for lawyers with at least a few years of experience.
That preference for experience allows the firm to create a
pool of associates who work more efficiently and with less
supervision. As a result, Mr. Krause says, he can staff most
of the firm’s cases with just one partner and one associate,
as opposed to the three- or four-lawyer teams that others
might use.
To make his approach possible—persuading promising your
attorneys to work for less—Zeichner Ellman offers them
more in the way of independence. It allows them, for example,
to argue motions before judges sooner than other firms do.
Zeichner Ellman also promises its young hires more time to
call their own. Mr. Zeichner insists that the firm set no
strict minimums in terms of the billable hours associates
have to log each week. In interviews with job candidates,
partners stress that not only do most associates stay away
from the office on weekends but that most also find the time
to take vacations.
Home-friendly
Attorneys can even work part-time and still manage to make
partner some day. That is exactly what Jantra Van Roy did.
Ms. Van Roy, who litigates bankruptcy, real estate and harassment
cases, generally works an abbreviated schedule from home,
so she can spend time with her two small children.
“She has a cell phone and we reach her when we need
to,” Mr. Krause says. “She comes in when she has
to.”
By hiring better lawyers than its wage scale might normally
attract, Zeichner Ellman also wins cases—and in the
process the loyalty of clients.
“They have a very practical approach to litigation,
very good common sense of how to accomplish what we need them
to,” says longtime client George Pierce, general counsel
of international trading company Toyota Tsusho America.
Success has brought growth. Later this summer, the firm will
expand its office. There have also been buyout offers from
larger firms, as part of the sector’s consolidation.
Mr. Zeichner admits that he has flirted with the idea of a
merger, but says that he wants to remain solo and small.
“We kind of like the practice the way it is,”
he explains. “We’re afraid the clients would lose
their confidence in us if we were to join a big firm.”
|
