Gary Rosen, managing shareholder with Becker & Poliakoff, responds to a series of questions as part of a series profiling midsize law firms in Florida.

How big is your firm, where is it located and what are its primary areas of
practice and focus?

Becker & Poliakoff is an East Coast law firm with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale
and 130 professionals at our offices throughout the state and in New York, New Jersey
and Washington, D.C. Our primary practice areas are: business litigation, construction,
government law and lobbying, real estate, corporate and community association.

 

Please explain your firm's governance structure and compensation model.

The firm is governed by a management committee of seven senior shareholders,
including myself as managing partner. Our compensation model is nonformulaic based
on financial performance together with a number of intangible factors.

 

What do you view as the two biggest opportunities for your firm, and what are
the two biggest threats?

Our biggest opportunity is the continued expansion of our commercial practices,
especially construction, commercial litigation and government law and lobbying. We
face the same threats as most of the legal industry: ever-increasing commoditization,
resistance to rate increases and growing competition.

 

After the recession hit, the prevailing theory was that midsize firms would start
to see more work come their way from large clients who could no longer justify
paying Big Law rates. What has been your experience?

We have benefited from the post-recession trend and seen a growing number of large
clients coming to us who can no longer justify paying Big Law rates. We pack a big
punch for a midsize firm and can deliver Big Law-quality work at less than
stratospheric rates.

 

Are your clients pushing for more alternative fee arrangements, and if so what
types? Is your firm amenable to those requests?

We have always offered AFAs for our government practice but have over the past few
years made a strategic decision to offer them in our construction practice where we
have market-leading expertise and an ability to carefully evaluate cases.

 

There is much debate around how law firms can foster the next generation of
legal talent. What advantages and disadvantages do midsize firms have in
attracting and retaining young lawyers, particularly millennials?

We don't suffer from the disadvantages of a larger firm in that we don't have the same
level of turnover. Because we are smaller, we are able to preserve our firm's culture,
emphasizing training and career growth. We periodically run programs geared to our
younger attorneys and continually discuss their concerns, elicit their input and ensure a
real quality of life balance.
One of the advantages of being a midsize firm, at least for us, is that mentorship here
is a constant. It happens daily and informally through collaboration with and guidance
from senior attorneys.

 

Does your firm employ any nonlawyer professionals in high-level positions
(e.g. COO, business development officer, chief strategy officer, etc.)? If so, why is
it advantageous to have a nonlawyer in that role? If not, have you considered
hiring any?

Yes, we do. We have nonlawyers who head four critical functions of the firm:
Administration — chief administrative officer, Finance — chief financial officer,
Marketing and business development — chief marketing officer, and Information
Technology — IT director. As a firm, we recognize that in these critical business areas
we need specialists with deep experience to perform these functions at the highest
professional level. Our firm operates more efficiently, and our attorneys can focus on
what they do best.

 

What, if any, technology advancements have you made in your firm in recent
years? What are the challenges in implementing tech changes?

We are constantly implementing state-of-the-art networks and integrated technologies
across all of our offices. All departments have specific technologies to support their
business functions.

 

What would you say is the most innovative thing your firm has done recently,
whether it be internal operations or how you work with clients?

You will be seeing the results of our most recent innovation in the coming months with
the rollout of our new brand identity. It's been a truly collaborative effort through
comprehensive working groups internally and extensive research. Clients and even
competitors were interviewed to smartly define and position our firm for strategic growth
in the coming years.

 

Does your firm have a succession plan in place? If so, what challenges do
you face in trying to execute that plan? If you don't currently have a plan, is it an
issue your firm is thinking about?

We went through a significant succession event six years ago and navigated it quite
successfully. We are constantly working to develop our mid-career lawyers and provide
opportunities for leadership in administrative areas and in our practice groups.