Kelley Kronenberg just opened a new home, and the midsize law firm is actively recruiting attorneys for expansion.

The latest group to join arrived from the six-attorney insurance defense firm Diaz Briscoe Medina in a merger that took effect when they began work at the Miami office Oct. 14.

The firm's new headquarters in Davie was built to demonstrate its commitment to a modern, collaborative approach to law and leading-edge technology with a long-range view of the future.

It must be working because Diaz Briscoe Medina's Espy Diaz Briscoe said the cultural feel at Kelley Kronenberg was one of the persuading factors in her firm's merger decision.

In a question-and-answer format, the firm offers some insight into its thinking and future.

Firm: Kelley Kronenberg

Firm leader: Michael Fichtel, CEO

Head count: 140+ attorneys

Locations: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Miami Lakes, West Palm Beach, Orlando, Jacksonville, Tampa, Tallahassee, Chicago

Practice areas: Full service

Governance structure: Managing partner and equity partners

Compensation model: Business unit/Profit-sharing model

Do you offer alternative fee arrangements? Yes

What do you view as the two biggest opportunities for your firm, and what are the two biggest threats? Kelley Kronenberg's biggest opportunities are:

Our business and compensation model: It's different and offers our attorneys so much more than our competitors. We are hearing from prospective lateral partners that our model gives them the potential to earn far more at our firm than other traditional law firm compensation models. The continued investment in our firm resources that support these groups helps to make this possible. We have an industry-leading marketing and business development team that has guided many of our practice groups to record growth. I am talking to attorneys and lateral groups every week that are looking to join our firm. It's an exciting time.

Our business platform: This ties into the business model as an opportunity. We continue to reinvest in the firm. Our substantial investments in infrastructure, technology, leadership, and our attorneys and staff has paid off. We see this in both our organic growth and our uptick in interest from lateral groups. We are focused on the long-term, and this outlook sets us apart from most of our competition.

In regard to threats, we look at future advances in technology as having the biggest potential to disrupt our business. Technology will further commoditize many practices that relied upon experience and expertise to get the job done. Technology is a daily conversation within our leadership team. We have hired a forward-thinking CIO and continue to invest in technology, not just hardware but process improvement and cutting-edge applications that make us more efficient and able to deliver more value to our clients.

An ever-present threat to most firms has been larger clients bringing more of their legal work in-house. This tends to be cyclical, but we must continue to pay attention to our clients' businesses and not just their legal problems. This is where our business platform really excels. Clients are now demanding more from their attorneys than ever before. Our support and leadership team helps our practice groups and individual attorneys meet and exceed those raised expectations.

The legal market is so competitive now — what trends do you see, and has anything, including alternative service providers, altered your approach? Is your chief competition other mid-market firms, or is your firm competing against big firms for the same work? Our competition is a mix of both mid-market and bigger firms. The legal market's competitiveness is due in large part to advances in technology, a strong economy and a workforce that is generationally diverse. We remain competitive by first being aware of these seismic changes in today's workplace and second by embracing change. We understand that the legal industry is historically slow to adapt and change is painful for other firms. Their reluctance to adapt creates a huge opportunity for us.

We hear time and again that our clients want us to understand their business beyond their legal needs. They want us to become their trusted advisers. We embrace that and continue to invest heavily in our client-focused initiatives and business development team.

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?  Our biggest advantage is the speed at which we can react to changes in the workplace. Being a midsize firm, we can take immediate action as it relates to decision-making and pivoting our offerings. So many firms are bogged down by committees and outdated compensation models. This not only limits their ability to react, it makes it impossible for much of our competition to be proactive as it relates to the speed of change.

Having success with anybody begins with listening first. We have made substantial investments in our human resources department and rolled out a series of successful "people-driven" initiatives that were implemented as a result of employee feedback. We understand the importance of work-life balance, not just to millennials but to our entire workforce. Some great examples of our new programs include our telecommuting policy, flextime and professional development programs such as "The Akademy" — a comprehensive, firmwide training initiative.

We are never done learning and improving. We understand it's a process and stay committed to becoming a best place to work.

Does your firm employ any non-lawyer professionals in high-level positions (e.g. COO, business development officer, chief strategy officer, etc.)? If so, why is it advantageous to have a non-lawyer in that role? If not, have you considered hiring any? We have a dynamic and diverse leadership team.  Like the businesses that we represent, we too have a leadership team of C-level professionals. Many times law firms are led solely by attorneys who have been successful at the practice of law and were placed into leadership positions by default. We understand that the practice of law and the business of law are two very distinct parts of what makes us successful. Every critical area of our firm is led by a C-level executive. In terms of leadership positions for business functions of the firm, a lack of law degree does not detract, in fact many times we prefer diverse industry perspectives.

What would you say is the most innovative thing your firm has done recently, whether it be technology advancements, internal operations, how you work with clients, etc.? It's hard to only say one thing. We are constantly innovating. Our innovation is driven by two things. The evolving need of our clients and the demands of today's workforce.

As it relates to our clients, the expectations of their law firms have increased significantly. Clients are looking for more personalized attention and are demanding more value. As a response, we have built a client-facing executive team that is led by our chief business development officer. This team's ultimate goal is firm growth. In order to achieve this and add value beyond the traditional expectations of the attorney-client relationship, we dig deep into their business issues and find ways to improve processes and profitability for our clients.

For our attorneys, this provides unprecedented support for business-critical activities that they simply doesn't have enough time to focus on, bringing new business into the firm and maintaining and expanding our existing client relationships.

One of the most recent examples of innovation is our new state-of-the-art headquarters. It is a visual representation of how cutting edge our firm has become. The new structure emphasizes an inspiring workspace thoughtfully curated to foster collaboration, client convenience and leading technology. One of the building's technological highlights is a mock courtroom, equipped with cameras and monitors that enable clients to participate in trial preparation remotely if they are not available to visit in person. Perhaps most impressive, the building features a rooftop terrace that provides an open-air venue for the firm to gather, eat and host client and firm events.

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 look at succession planning on two levels. The first is succession for business units and their partners, the second is firm-wide succession.

Let's take business unit partner succession first. We know one size does not fit all. We work with business units to customize the details of their succession plans according to the size of their team and the time frame of their retirement, while always keeping the needs of the clients as our top priority. When we turn our attention to firm-wide succession planning, our focus is getting the next generation prepared to lead. We invest a tremendous amount of time with attorneys that display both an interest and potential for firm leadership. It's mentally challenging to step away from the day-to-day operations, but these feelings are put at ease by our up-and-coming partners who show incredible dedication and loyalty to the firm.

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