The Miami litigation boutique Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman specializes in complex commercial litigation, bankruptcy and receiverships, and real estate cases.

Its 16 attorneys have tried dozens of cases involving financial disputes, commercial transactions, theft of trade secrets, intellectual property, securities violations, business torts, fraud, class actions and employment disputes.

But the firm is hired most often to untangle document-intensive, financially convoluted, multi- dimensional fraud cases, helping dissect the Jay Peak Ponzi scheme, a settled Merrill Lynch pension fee dispute and fintech and tech support frauds, among others.

Managing partner Jeffrey Schneider answers questions offering insight into the law firm's operations and practices.

Firm: Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider + Grossman

Firm leader: Jeffrey C. Schneider, managing partner

Head count: 16

Location: Miami

Practice areas: Full service

Governance structure and compensation model: Our compensation model is merit based, not lockstep. We reward our attorneys for their contributions to the firm and for the outstanding work they provide on behalf of our clients. Our governance structure is simple and collaborative. Our partners work collectively together to make decisions regarding the business of the firm.

Do you offer alternative fee arrangements? Depending on the type of litigation and dispute, we are open to arranging alternative fee arrangements with clients. We understand complex litigation can often be lengthy and time consuming and we make sure our clients are our top priority. If there is a fee structure that makes them more comfortable and is agreeable on our end, we are happy to explore that option.

What do you view as the two biggest opportunities for your firm, and what are the two biggest threats? There are several opportunities our firm is looking at with the potential for an economic slowdown on the horizon. The first is receiverships, which are part of our bread and butter. With the economy slowing down, we are likely to see more companies falter and fall into receivership. On the other hand, we continue to see a lot of fraud committed in Florida, so that also means opportunities for our firm to help the victims, as we are often appointed as receivers to protect the victim's interest. LKLSG has extensive experience serving as receivers or representing the receivers in several major SEC and FTC matters.

Additionally, with Miami's real estate cycle expected to slow down, we anticipate seeing an increase in real estate-related litigation, particularly condominium association-related lawsuits. We also expect to see an increase in partnership disputes with a slower economy as projects begin to falter.

The biggest "obstacle" to a firm like ours is finding the next generation of talent. It isn't actually a threat because there are always attorneys that are unhappy at their current firm and willing to move to a well-known boutique firm like ours. It is an obstacle, however, because a firm of our size, working on the high-level cases that we work on, cannot afford to accept anyone other than the best, and finding top talent is not always the easiest thing to do.

Another obstacle we face involves corporate clients retaining work in house, but because our skills are so specialized, we find that corporate clients still hire us for "bet the company" or other highly specialized matters on which we have expertise.

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 and small firms, or is your firm competing against big firms for the same work? We often go head-to-head against major global law firms in the courtroom and for new business. We often get chosen ahead of those firms by general counsels because we offer a seasoned team of professionals that is creative, innovative, nimble, and considerably more cost-effective.

Prior to founding LKLSG, our founding partners worked for Big Law for decades, so they have the depth and experience that comes with that background, along with the cost structure of a boutique firm that lacks the overhead and cost structure of the larger firms.

A key differentiator for us is that our partners remain hands-on to manage and actually try each of our cases. As a boutique firm, we often work closely with alternative service providers to provide extra value to our clients. This ranges from employing e-discovery technology to help efficiently manage complex matters to utilizing jury consultants in preparation for trial.

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? At LKLSG we place a heavy emphasis on mentoring and developing young attorneys. It is the only way they can become elite litigators and complement our trial teams. Over the years, we have been fortunate to promote several up-and-coming attorneys to our partnership ranks, where they are now some of our firm's leading rainmakers. The biggest advantage young attorneys have by working at a midsize or boutique firm is the ability to have "real" hands-on experience and directly interact with clients. As mentioned, our firm is structured where our partners lead small teams throughout the case. This provides young attorneys with the ability to actually try a case; it also gives them the opportunity to interact and build trust with clients. This enables them to network in a more efficient manner and help build their individual practices better.

We realized that while we may not be able to compete with Big Law in terms of salaries and bonuses, we can offer younger attorneys other incentives that are extremely important to them. For example, our firm's culture fosters entrepreneurship and work-life balance, and that has been a winner for us.

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? The firm employs an MBA as its receivership administrator. This nonlawyer professional manages the books and financial records of all receiverships and helps to administer the claims of the victims and third-party creditors. By employing this service in house, the firm is able to more leanly and cost-effectively manage large receiverships because these services are typically employed with outside accounting firms at a much greater expense.

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.? Our approach to innovation focuses on staying up to date with laws that will affect our practices and clients. We are always analyzing new laws and coming up with creative approaches to winning cases on behalf of our clients. Thanks to technology, we have also been innovative in terms of work flexibility. About half of our lawyers, including associates, work from home an average of one day per week. Each attorney can tie in directly to their work stations, and calls to the office are automatically routed to their cellphones.

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 are constantly looking and planning for our firm's future. LKLSG is privileged that our founders have worked together for decades and we have cultivated a culture that we hope will continue for decades to come. Through our firm's strong commitment to mentorship, we are preparing our next generation of attorneys to increasingly take on leadership roles within both the community and our firm so that LKLSG's legacy of excellent legal work on behalf of clients can continue for decades to come.