Litigators from several prestigious firms, including Boies Schiller Flexner; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton; and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd have created a 15-attorney boutique that touts itself as a "new Big Law model."

The new firm, Roche Cyrulnik Freedman, opened its doors the first week of January and is the first major spinoff from the two-decade-old Boies Schiller. Former Boies Schiller attorneys Kyle Roche, Vel Freedman and Jason Cyrulnik are name partners. Freedman, based in Miami, and former Boies Schiller equity partner Ted Normand, based in New York, are the firm's co-chairs.

Like other Big Law spinoffs, Roche Cyrulnik Freedman positions itself as a boutique armed with the talent of Big Law at lower, more flexible price points. Firm lawyers will work with clients on both the defense and plaintiffs side under alternative fee arrangements—including defense-side contingency, flat, success and equity fees.

Cyrulnik says the flexibility and alternative arrangements will give the firm a competitive advantage.

"Looking at it from the perspective of many general counsel, we know that clients value efficiency and predictability so we've come up with a menu of options on the client side," he said.

But it is the firm's compensation model that will differentiate the new firm from other litigation boutiques, like Wilkinson Walsh Eskovitz. Compensation will be fully transparent and based on a formula that values business generation and contingency work as much as the billable hour.

"We tweaked the formula in a way that still makes sense for lawyers coming in on contingency. Because we value those [cases] as much as billable hour cases, we created incentives for them," Freedman said.

The firm founders believe the transparency will help attract the sort of high-profile talent they seek as they continue to grow. The firm will also pay "above market" for associates, while also giving them meaningful work from day one—a strategy made possible largely because they will operate without the constraints of the billable hour.

Freedman and Roche left Boies Schiller six months ago to form the firm Roche Freedman alongside former Paul Weiss associate Joseph Delich and Robbins Geller associate Constantine Economides. The goal was to maintain a small firm that handled one or two major cases at a time. Freedman and Roche have continued to make headlines for their work on a $10 billion bitcoin lawsuit out of the Southern District of Florida that they say will likely go to trial at the end of the year.

But over the next few months, Freedman, Roche and Cyrulnik began discussing a broader vision, which culminated in the newer, larger Roche Cyrulnik Freedman.

"It was extremely attractive to build a plaintiff-side practice with the rich institutional client work coming over with Jason and others," Roche said.

Boies Schiller is in the midst of a leadership transition, with vaunted and recently controversial leader David Boies ceding some responsibilities to New York-based partner Nicholas Gravante and London-based partner Natasha Harrison. The firm now operates under four managing partners: Boies, Gravante, Harrison and name partner Jonathan Schiller.

The firm also confirmed Tuesday that it has shuttered its small Orlando office, relocating those attorneys to Miami.

Roche, Cyrulnik and Freedman said the leadership transition at Boies Schiller was not the reason for their departure.

"This is really a project that Jason, myself and Kyle were talking about for a long time. Our focus is to see what we can accomplish," Freedman said.

The 10-person defection from Boies Schiller is not the only recent break-away from the firm. Last week, three Boies Schiller Flexner partners based out of Miami—Mark Heise, Luis Suarez and Patricia Melville—left the firm to launch their own litigation boutique: Coral Gables-based Heise Suarez Melville.

In a statement, Boies Schiller managing partner Schiller said that "we wish them well at their new firm."

Below is the full list of Roche Cyrulnik Freedman attorneys and their former firms:

Partners:

  • Jason Cyrulnik (Boies Schiller)
  • Joseph Delich (Roche Freedman)
  • Katherine Eskovitz (Boies Schiller)
  • Paul Fattaruso (Boies Schiller)
  • Vel Freedman (Boies Schiller)
  • Amos Friedland (Boies Schiller)
  • Nathan Holcomb (Boies Schiller)
  • Ted Normand (Boies Schiller)
  • Kyle Roche (Roche Freedman)

Counsel

  • William Dzurilla (Boies Schiller)
  • Constantine Economides (Robbins Geller)

Associates

  • Stephen Lagos (Boies Schiller)
  • Alex Potter (Boies Schiller)
  • Stephanie Scutti (Boies Schiller)
  • Richard Cipolla (Cleary Gottlieb)
|

Read More:

Three Boies Schiller Partners Splinter Off To Create New Litigation Boutique