Gray Robinson president Byrd “Biff” Marshall, Jr., has an aversion to conventional wisdom. In 1990 Marshall and the other partners at his 30-lawyer general practice firm hired Hildebrandt consultant Charles Santangelo. The Orlando firm wanted Santangelo’s expertise as it thought about its future. When the consultant suggested that the firm narrow its focus and become a boutique, or merge with a larger national firm, Marshall and his partners didn’t take the advice. “[The consultants] told us what they told everybody,” Marshall explains.
Instead, the firm charted its own course. Marshall and his partners adopted a strong managing partner structure and an open, meritocratic compensation plan. (In 1990, just $5,000 separated the highest- and lowest-paid partners. Last year, there was a 15-to-1 spread.) And over the next nine years, their Florida firm more than doubled in size through lateral hires and mergers with small firms in Tallahassee and Melbourne.
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