When Amit Singh found himself working 80 to 100 hours a week at a large Manhattan law firm and sleeping under his desk in anticipation of that next big financial deal, he realized it was time to make a change.
“I kept a pillow under my desk at all times,” said the 34-year-old former Wall Street attorney who moved back to his home state and opened a solo corporate practice, Benchmark Law Group, in Del Mar two years ago.
“I was losing a lot of relationships, and friends tended to be really tentative,” said Singh, who now works about 40 hours a week. “I was always waiting to be sent to London for that next big merger. I figured if I want to have a family one day, I better have my own practice.”
In recent years, more national and international law firms have been recruiting local attorneys or acquiring small firms to establish a San Diego office in pursuit of a slice of the growing life sciences industry.
But there are a handful of entrepreneurial lawyers like Singh brave enough to take a leap of independence.
Boutiques Fill Niches
These attorneys say there is an increasing need for smaller firms because the super-sized practices tend to go after many of the same large clients. They also say boutique firms with some sort of specialty, such as trademarks, patent law, employment or family law tend to be the most successful.
Tom Jurgensen, 49, founded Catalyst Law Group, a boutique firm focused on intellectual property and corporate law with a technology and life sciences twist, in 2001. He added a second attorney within months of founding the firm, and today Catalyst has four lawyers who serve about 100, mostly local, clients.
While Singh brought some of his 20 clients with him from New York, Jurgensen jumped into his own firm from an in-house counsel position at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. In the past, he has worked in both the firm environment and as general counsel to two life sciences firms, including Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
“I had to build my entire client base from scratch,” Jurgensen said.
No doubt these local lawyers initially gave up stability and prestige in exchange for freedom, autonomy and the chance to grow an enterprise they could call their own.
“Not everyone wants to work in that (big firm) environment,” Jurgensen said. “Why do they not start their own firms? It’s risky. Most people are not entrepreneurs.”
Charging Less
Boutique and solo attorneys say their clients get more bang for their buck than at large firms.
Singh said the smaller clients he serviced when working at large firms seemed to get put on the back burner, according to where the firms wanted him to focus.
“You would pay at least $500 (an hour) for me at a big firm,” said Singh, who added his billable rate is now typically $225-$250 per hour. “That’s cheaper than someone just out of school at a big firm, and I have eight years of experience. There aren’t that many people with my qualifications.”
After receiving a graduate law degree at New York University, Singh worked for America’s oldest law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York, then at Cooley Godward in Silicon Valley, where he left amid talk of downsizing and headed back East to Manhattan’s Richards Spears Kibbe & Orbe.
Likewise, John Kim, who left global legal giant DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary to form a solo trademark practice, Intellectual Property Legal Advisors, in 2004, said he charges 20 percent to 30 percent less than large firms. Kim, 35, has an office in downtown San Diego, though he often works from home. He employs two paralegals and an assistant.
“At a big firm, I do as little as possible. I farm out as much as I can to paralegals,” Kim said of the fast-paced large firm culture where he said he worked 70 to 80 hours a week attending to mostly larger clients.
But he and Singh like the fact that they can now focus more on fewer clients and offer specialized attention.
“A small company needs just as much attention as a big company,” Singh said. “Larger (law) firms won’t be able to do that.”
Resources Match The Size
But partners at large national firms with a local office said their size enables them to afford resources smaller firms may not have. They also said it is advantageous to the clients that they have many attorneys with various expertise to consult on legal matters.
Dan Pascucci, who oversees the local office of national firm Pennsylvania-based Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, said bigger firms, “tend to be more qualified to handle more complex work.”
“It’s rare to find small firms that could also do advanced patent work, and also corporate work and (initial public offerings) for big companies,” Pascucci said.
But there is a need for small firms in the market, industry members say, especially due to the homegrown nature of companies in San Diego and the region’s entrepreneurial climate.
“We don’t want to get huge,” Jurgensen said, adding he sees Catalyst topping out at around 15-20 attorneys in the next several years. “We’re not trying to chase the big firms.”
Jurgensen and another local, established boutique, Henderson & Caverly, a six-
attorney firm located in Rancho Santa Fe, regularly receive offers from larger firms wanting to buy their practices.
“It’s often firms from outside the region that are expanding. They often set out feelers to see if we are willing,” said Nancy Henderson, who co-founded the practice in 2000 with Kristin Caverly. Both attorneys have worked for the former Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison.
Like patent and trademark firms, Henderson said it is a trend for the specialties on which Henderson Caverly focus to branch off into boutiques. The firm specializes in estate planning, estate and trust litigation, intellectual property, civil and commercial litigation, as well as charitable foundations and probate and trust administration.
“It’s not a practice that puts you high in the pecking order of most firms,” Henderson said. “I am an entrepreneur, and I enjoy being the (chief executive officer) of my own company, and not being affected by firm politics and only having to report to my partner.”
Despite the lesser cost of small firms, all the boutique and solo attorneys said they became profitable day one, partly due to technology capabilities.
“All I needed was my laptop and my brain,” Singh said.
