Roger Quillen, of Fisher Phillips (left) and Susan Hiser, of The Murray Law Group. (Courtesy photo) Roger Quillen of Fisher & Phillips (left) and Susan Hiser of The Murray Law Group. (Courtesy photo)

Fisher & Phillips will acquire a 13-lawyer labor and employment boutique in Detroit, The Murray Law Group, effective Jan. 1, the Atlanta-based national law firm said Tuesday.

The deal will create the 36th U.S. office for the national labor and employment firm. Murray Law Group, founded 23 years ago, also has an immigration practice serving employers.

The Murray Law Group team includes seven partners: William E. Altman, Dorothy Hanigan Basmaji, Jesse Goldstein, Debra Auerbach Clephane Kennedy, Kathleen Saenz Poppenger, Ronald E. Reynolds and Susan Hartmus Hiser, who is the firm's president.

"The Murray Law Group is a premier brand in employment and business immigration law in Michigan," said Fisher Phillips' chairman, Roger Quillen, adding that his firm's partners and their clients "have been clamoring for us to be in the state of Michigan for more than a decade."

"We've missed many opportunities to serve clients and win new clients in the state," he said in an interview.

Quillen said Fisher Phillips has been seeking the right firm in Michigan for at least 10 years—and talking to the leadership of Murray Law Group the whole time.

"We've been trying to sow the seeds with the Murray Law Group to consider us for a long time," Quillen said. "About six months ago, we began to talk more seriously."

"We've been holdouts," acknowledged Murray Law Group's president, Hiser, referring to the consolidation of labor and employment firms nationally. "We've enjoyed what we have, but our clients are really looking for a more diverse geographical footprint."

Hiser declined to name the boutique's clients but said they include automotive manufacturers and parts suppliers, health care providers and manufacturers, ranging from small businesses to the Fortune 500.

"Our clients are national in scope, and so we are doing what is in their best interests," she said, by offering them national coverage.

Hiser said the boutique had entertained offers from other local and national labor and employment firms over the years and ultimately decided that Fisher Phillips was a good match.

"We were not ready to jump until we were 100% certain that we had found a firm that is the right fit for us," Hiser said. "What sets Fisher Phillips apart in our mind is their substantive expertise and high-quality standards of representation."

Hiser added that her firm wanted to have confidence in the lawyers to which it would be referring clients. "We want to make sure that other offices we send them to have the same standard of representation that we have. I feel we've found that in Fisher Phillips."

"We also felt it was a fit culturally. Both firms value teamwork and very good legal work," she added.

With the acquisition of The Murray Law Group, Fisher Phillips continues to broaden its national footprint. At the beginning of 2019, the firm expanded its Washington, D.C., office by acquiring a six-lawyer employment law boutique, The Farrington Law Firm, and opened a Pittsburgh office.

Fisher Phillips, ranked No. 147 in the Am Law 200, generated $200.65 million in revenue last year, according to the American Lawyer.

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