Chris Balch had spent just five months at the helm of Holland & Hart when the pandemic hit.

With Balch's late-2019 promotion, the 401-lawyer Denver firm pledged to implement new service models and invest in technology and process efficiencies following years of rising revenue per lawyer but stagnant revenue and profits and declining head count.

After some initial pullback in the corporate and M&A practices during Q2, Balch began to see the firm's fortunes turn. "We saw a broad-base increase in demand for our services, and lawyers across practices and industries worked hard to meet those needs," the M&A partner said in an interview. "We saw an increase in partner hours, and that had a positive increase in revenue."