A regional midsize law firm does not frequently market an international practice group. But several in Pennsylvania that have done so say their smaller size can help them serve clients efficiently while leveraging personal connections.

The latest area firm to open an international practice is Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld, based in Philadelphia. The 33-lawyer firm announced last week that it had formed an international group, having hired an associate and a law clerk to share the work with partners Dustin Covello and David Gitlin.

While Royer Cooper's international practice has a broad focus, touching on several dozen countries, it is not the only midsize firm in Pennsylvania whose lawyers represent clients overseas. Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, for example, has a China practice, which it is currently looking to expand. Intellectual property boutique RatnerPrestia opened an office in Munich last year, to broaden its European Patent Office work.

While these international practices sometimes offer a variety of services, they tend to stem from a particular client or group of clients.

Obermayer Rebmann started its international practice with one lawyer—Stephen Ching—who had built a transactional practice that included deals involving Chinese clients. Ching is now deceased, but the firm continued the practice, with three partners pitching in and an associate who speaks Chinese devoting the majority of her practice to Chinese clients, Pittsburgh partner Bruce Fox said.

“The Chinese presence has really grown recently in Pittsburgh,” said Fox, who spends about a third of his time on China matters. “There's a lot of interest in Pittsburgh, with everything happening in Pittsburgh in terms of technology and the University of Pittsburgh.”

RatnerPrestia had represented multiple large German companies before opening its Munich office, and has hired on several German lawyers. CEO Jonathan Spadt said he expected the firm to get more business from German clients upon opening the office, but it has actually been more successful in getting work from companies based in other countries that are looking to enter the German market. Compared to larger firms, RatnerPrestia is able to offer them lower rates, he said, and they tend to have fewer conflicts.

Royer Cooper's Gitlin, a former partner at Greenberg Traurig, said he represented a Philadelphia client that had business in Finland, for whom one matter eventually became a whole Finnish practice. He also has a number of Israeli clients, and he visits them regularly. All told, Royer Cooper attorneys have experience in 44 different countries.

“It's really client-focused,” Covello said. “Our clients are middle market, but they're doing business all over the world. As they've crossed the border, our respective practices have crossed the border too.”

The Royer Cooper international practice is mainly focused on tax and transactional work, which are Covello and Gitlin's practices, respectively. The group also recently had a substantial bankruptcy case involving an international client, Covello said.

Organizing that work into one practice area helps the firm get the word out to current and prospective clients about their international abilities, Covello said, and it facilitates more conversation between lawyers with international business.

Still, Gitlin said, it's unlikely that Royer Cooper would open brick-and-mortar offices overseas.

“To be able to do that and do that well, you really need to be a giant firm,” he said. “The other concept, which is what we're doing, is building a network of people we can trust in different countries. We're relying on other small, midsize firms which are local and we know we can trust.”

That model is more flexible, Covello said. Lawyers at large, global firms who have to refer work to, or collaborate with, a foreign lawyer often are bound to those within their own firm, he said.

Gitlin said he ran into that situation before joining Royer Cooper. Sometimes he might have preferred to refer the client's matter externally to a person he knew better, he said.

“It's a little bit of a crapshoot even internally,” he said. “Even if you assume they are competent because they are members of your firm, that doesn't mean when you approach them, they are your top priority.”

Fox, too, said he prefers being able to leverage relationships with various law firms based in China, rather than being forced to work with colleagues with whom he shares letterhead, but little more.

“It's a niche practice,” he said. But “we have relationships with various firms in China … we're expanding our name recognition there.”

Still, it can be useful to have lawyers abroad under the same brand, as shown by RatnerPrestia's move.

“Most of the work so far has been going to the Munich [office] from non-German clients,” Spadt said. “A lot of those clients have commented that they like the idea of having one firm handle their matters trans-Atlantically.”

But the firm refers out work in Germany when it's not the best fit for the lawyers based there. In that way, he said, RatnerPrestia has “a nice blend.”

Lizzy McLellan can be contacted at 215-557-2493 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @LizzyMcLellTLI.