In what it's billing as a twist on other law firm staff attorney models, Honigman has launched a lower-cost staffing alternative to clients while promising a path to training and advancement for a new class of non-partner-track lawyers.

Those opportunities help to distinguish Honigman's professional attorney track from other law firms with similar programs, said Esther Bowers, director of practice management at the Detroit-based Am Law 200 firm.

"We draw various elements of things that exist and don't exist currently," Bowers said. "Our program is unique in that it has career advancement opportunities within the track itself; all sorts of training and integration into the firm so that our professional track attorneys are receiving the same level of education and opportunities as our partnership attorneys."

The three-tiered track is a bid on Honigman's part to provide cheaper legal services to clients who do not want to shell out money for the firm's higher-priced partners and associates.

With 275 lawyers generating $224 million last year, Honigman is ranked 134th in the Am Law 200. But while it may not be among the largest firms, it has a "reputation for being at the top end of the price scale," said Don Kunz, the chair of Honigman's corporate department. As a result, the firm is missing out on lower-priced, daily legal work the firm's clients need done, Kunz said.

The rates for the least-experienced lawyer among its staff attorneys are lower than the rates for Honigman's first- or second-year associates, which are around $200, Kunz said. Honigman currently employs 18 staff attorneys through the track, and more are expected to be hired, he added.

The professional track is "permitting us to do things for clients that, up until now, we weren't able to do on a basis that was profitable," Kunz said. "We're able to serve with clients with capable attorneys who are at the price point and to bring additional resources to bear."

Kunz said Honigman serves a lot of local clients in addition to a growing, national intellectual property and M&A practice. The kinds of work the staff attorneys would do are document reviews in litigation and corporate transactional areas, as well as occasionally helping out on complex cases, Kunz added.

Kunz envisioned the track being filled by lawyers who may not have graduated at the top of their law school class, but are still talented and highly capable. Often such attorneys struggle to find work, he added.

"What we can do is offer an environment, a place of employment, where they can come in, do rewarding work, do varied work, from time to time get involved in complex work," Kunz said.

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