Employment Lawyers: Some of the Best May Not Be the Best Known
A recent Law.com article took an interesting look at the question of who are California's best management side employment lawyers.
Ask anyone who's the best trial lawyer or the best IP litigator in California, and you'll probably hear the names of well-known, $700-per-hour senior rainmakers at California's largest law firms.But there are a great many superb lawyers practicing outside the headlines at smaller firms all over the state or in more junior positions at the megafirms. They may not have the same name recognition -- but they also don't usually come with the same price tag.
Thus began the quest to identify high quality but lesser known employment lawyers.
Law.com highlighted four; who they are is not important for purposes of this post. Why they are well regarded is. Here are some of the common threads.
First, their rates are usually lower --- sometimes much lower --- than those found in the larger firms.
Second, they are highly competent. Often they are alumni of the larger firms who have left to establish their own practices.
Third, they work with focus and efficiency. As one said, "One of the things that seems to resonate with my clients a lot, I do what needs to be done to win -- not everything that can be done."
Fourth, they offer clients real solutions to business problems, not theorizing or temporizing. In other words, they give specific, practical answers to managers who need them.
The article was limited to California, but it's reasonable to think that there are similar attorneys in the other 49 states as well. The question is how to find them.
More on that in another post soon.