4 Law Firms to Note on the NLJ 500

Midwest-focused law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister comes onto the NLJ 500 this year as the highest-ranked new entrant at 110.

Starting in the late 2000s, Taft took different steps toward growth: merging with other firms to expand or open new offices, recruiting lateral hires and replenishing outgoing lawyers at the end of their career with new hires out of law school. “We make sure that we never shrink, so when people are leaving we make sure we’re hiring new bodies,” says managing partner Robert Hicks.

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Law Firms Mentioned

<div> <div> <h2 class="articleSectionHeader"><strong>Taft: Top Ranked New Entrant</strong></h2> <div style="float: left; margin: 2px 15px 0px 0px; width: 245px;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2605" src="http://www.almcms.com/contrib

Mayer Brown
Seyfarth Shaw
Taft Stettinius Hollister

/uploads/sites/398/2017/06/Robert-Hicks-Vert-201710201813.jpg" alt="" width="245" height="370" /> <i>Robert Hicks of Taft Stettinius & Hollister.</i></div> Midwest-focused law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister comes onto the NLJ 500 this year as the highest-ranked new entrant at 110. Starting in the late 2000s, Taft took different steps toward growth: merging with other firms to expand or open new offices, recruiting lateral hires and replenishing outgoing lawyers at the end of their career with new hires out of law school. "We make sure that we never shrink, so when people are leaving we make sure we're hiring new bodies," says managing partner Robert Hicks. The firm's key practices include its transactional, litigation, real estate, environmental and intellectual property groups. Hicks says the firm bases compensation on performance, regardless of seniority, while working to maintain collegiality. Taft takes a decentralized management approach �� it doesn't consider any particular office its headquarters, though it currently has the most lawyers in Cincinnati �� and plans to keep growing in new Midwestern markets and expand its current offices. The goal is to become roughly twice as large over the next decade. "Our model is to be a super high-quality Midwestern firm," Hicks says. �� Scott Flaherty <img style="margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; float: left;" src="/image/nlj/largerphotos/NLJ500-Taft-Mini-Profile-Article-201706271813.jpg" alt="" align="right" /> <div style="clear: both;"></div>   <h2 class="articleSectionHeader"><strong>Jenner & Block: Biggest Big Firm Movement</strong></h2> <div style="float: left; margin: 2px 15px 0px 0px; width: 245px;"><img class="size-full wp-image-2616" src="http://www.almcms.com/contrib

Mayer Brown
Seyfarth Shaw
Taft Stettinius Hollister

/uploads/sites/398/2017/06/Terrence_J_Truax-Vert-201710201828.jpg" alt="" width="245" height="369" /> <i>Terrence Truax.</i></div> <p id="image1" class="left">Jenner & Block was among five firms in the top 100 to climb more than 10 places in the NLJ 500 rankings. With head count growing 11.7 percent from last year's report, to 487 lawyers, Jenner ranked No. 90 this year.</p> Managing partner Terrence J. Truax describes the firm's strategy as "relentlessly client-centric." In the past year, Jenner, well-known as a litigation powerhouse, has focused on growing new practice areas to offer broader services for its clients. So far those include an aviation group based around Marc Warren, a former deputy chief counsel of operations at the Federal Aviation Administration and ex-partner at Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C.; building an energy practice after hiring former Exelon Corp. legal chief Randall E. Mehrberg; and raiding Mayer Brown and Seyfarth Shaw to start a wealth management practice. "We're a premium firm and we want to build practices that complement that premium brand," Truax said. �� Roy Strom <img style="margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; float: left;" src="/image/nlj/largerphotos/NLJ500-Jenner-Mini-Profile-Article-201706271814.jpg" alt="" align="right" /> <div style="clear: both;"></div>   <h2 class="articleSectionHeader"><strong>Buchalter: Biggest Head Count Gains</strong></h2> <figure class="basic-figure inline-fig inline-img-left"><img src="/image/EM/NLJ/Adam-Bass-Vert-201706271307.jpg" /><figcaption>Buchalter president & CEO Adam Bass.</figcaption><span class="credit">Courtesy photo</span> </figure> <p id="image2" class="left">Buchalter's roster soared from 160 attorneys to 206 in 2016, the greatest relative head count gain of any firm in the NLJ 500. The Los Angeles-based firm's major hires included former Sony global litigation chief Leonard Venger and former Parker, Milliken, Clark, O'Hara & Samuelian shareholders Sabina Helton and Steven Nakasone, who launched Buchalter's Japan practice.</p> "We made a choice to maintain our culture and to grow in a way which is hard work," chief executive officer Adam Bass said. "The easy way is you acquire another firm and you merge them in, you cut out 20, 30, 40 percent of the people that the other firm was unwilling to do on their own, and you make it work. We saw that as not within the way that we really like to do things." Buchalter brings on teams of no more than five or six lawyers at once, Bass said. "The goal is not to bring someone over here and say, 'Here's what you were doing at ABC firm, just come over here and maybe we'll pay you a little more,'" Bass said. "We want your integration to cause success here." The firm's expansion has continued, with the addition of a sixth office, in Sacramento, in February. </div> <div> �� Rebecca Cohen <img style="margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; float: left;" src="/image/nlj/largerphotos/NLJ500-Buchalter-Mini-Profile-Article-201706271814.jpg" alt="" align="right" /> <div style="clear: both;"></div>   <h2 class="articleSectionHeader"><strong>Roig Lawyers: Biggest Head Count Losses</strong></h2> <figure class="basic-figure inline-fig inline-img-left"><img src="/image/EM/NLJ/Rosenberg-Michael-3-bell-Square-201706271303.jpg" /><figcaption>Michael Rosenberg</figcaption><span class="credit">Melanie Bell</span> </figure> <p id="image3" class="left">Dropping from 111 to 85 lawyers, the Deerfield Beach, Florida-based Roig Lawyers declined by the largest percentage �� 23.4 percent �� among firms in this year's NLJ 500 rankings.</p> Roig, a minority-owned law firm started in 2000 by founding partner and insurance litigator Fernando Roig, focuses on insurance defense litigation. It also has an active insurance fraud practice, and groups focused on lending and finance corporate matters, and civil and construction litigation, among others.Roig emphasizes maintaining diversity among its lawyers, and has 19 partners, four in the equity ranks. Managing partner Michael Rosenberg said departures "are par for the course during the year" and that Roig recently "decided to realign our strategic plans and focus on strengthening our core practice groups." He's also optimistic about the firm's future. "Since the end of 2016, we have hired several new attorneys and are actively recruiting attorneys for all our offices." �� Scott Flaherty <img style="margin: 2px 10px 0px 0px; float: left;" src="/image/nlj/largerphotos/NLJ500-Roig-Mini-Profile-Article-201706271815.jpg" alt="" align="right" /> <div style="clear: both;"></div> <p class="left"></p> </div> </div> <

Mayer Brown
Seyfarth Shaw
Taft Stettinius Hollister

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4 Law Firms to Note on the NLJ 500

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Views From Two Trenches: Supreme Court Limits SEC's Ability to Use Internal Proceedings

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