Why Specialist Law Firms Are Well Suited For This Time of Crisis
COVID-19 has highlighted areas where the innovation and flexibility of specialist law firms are proving key.
July 06, 2020 at 02:52 AM
5 minute read
In time of crisis it is usual to see innovation, and the rapid implementation of change. We can be at our best and most inventive when put under pressure.
It is also my view that the specialist law firm has a particular advantage: its focus on a deliberately narrow range of activities can offer benefits to both its clients and its staff. Decision making can be swift, and a range of ideas can be tried out and assessed quickly, without unnecessary politics and competing interests presenting obstacles.
The experience of COVID-19 has highlighted three main areas where the innovation and flexibility which are hallmarks of the best specialist law firms are already proving key: technology, funding and culture.
When it comes to technology, firms with experience of working with international clients, as well as those in the UK, are likely to have an advantage in responding to Covid-19, as are those who have embraced and facilitated remote working.
Since late March 2020, firms' choice of IT systems, agile working procedures, and contingency plans have all been tested as never before. In particular, as hearings in litigation and arbitration became virtual, it has been necessary quickly to implement detailed alternative plans for dealing with the sorts of things that can often be taken for granted, such as the physical co-location of all or most of the solicitors, barristers, clients, witnesses, experts, and judges/arbitrators.
Not all matters require the same technological solutions, and at CYK we consider it an advantage for our clients that we are not tied to any single platform for e-disclosure, or e-bundles.
Although there is a great deal that can and should be written about witnesses giving evidence remotely, and the arrangements needed in order to ensure that fairness is not compromised, technology has shown itself to be up to the task of remote hearings. As ever, all can be at the mercy of the simplest things though, in particular the reliability and speed of a user's internet connection!
Accelerated progress towards more regular remote hearings offers the potential to generate significant savings for clients, in particular those from overseas, including the time and money spent on attending some or all of a lengthy trial. This development highlights the need for exceptional lawyers to be exceptional project managers.
More than ever, those engaged in complex litigation need to plan not only their legal strategy, but also every other element of a matter, from a communications strategy right down to the most particular details regarding the interface between various pieces of software, the availability of hardware (eg multiple screens), and a failover connection to the internet for all key people, including witnesses.
Litigation funders have identified Covid-19 as an opportunity for their offering to become even more widely understood, accepted, and used than it already is. The difficulties that many potential claimants faced, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, in finding the means to pursue even the most meritorious claims, are being used to illustrate how different the situation now is for those with a Covid-19 related dispute.
The litigation funding market has become a great deal more sophisticated over the past 12 years creating significant competition among funders, and greater diversity of approach.
New entrants are challenging older assumptions around risk, reward, and pricing. We work with the funders best suited to the client and matter, and the process of selecting the right funder has become a little like choosing the right counsel team: it is a very significant relationship. We anticipate that more matters will be funded, including by clients who would traditionally have self-funded, but now wish to preserve cash reserves, or reduce risk (including adverse cost risk).
Of all the things that have been learned so far by lawyers from the Covid-19 experience, the most significance may be what they have learned about the culture of their own firm. It's not only systems, procedures, and innovation that have been put to the test, but also the essence and culture of firms.
I believe that the relatively smaller size of a specialist firm can be one of its great strengths; when the going gets tough there is the opportunity truly to listen to, and to develop a bespoke approach with, every individual staff member.
I am convinced the firm and its clients benefit from that in ways which may be difficult to measure meaningfully, but which are a better investment in the future success of the firm than anything else.
Robert Coffey is the managing partner of Cooke, Young & Keidan
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllWhat to Expect From Teresa Ribera, the EU‘s New Competition Commissioner
6 minute readTrending Stories
- 1The Appropriate Exemption in Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College
- 2DOJ, 10 State AGs File Amended Antitrust Complaint Against RealPage and Big Landlords
- 3New Partners at Cummings & Lockwood, Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey
- 4'Extra Government'?: NY Top Court Eyes Ethics Commission's Constitutionality
- 5South Texas College of Law Houston Selects New Dean
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250