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3 Employment Boutiques Rank Among Largest US Firms
By Abigail Rubenstein
Law360, New York (March 24, 2014, 1:58 PM ET) -- Three employment law boutiques landed in the top
50 of the Law360 400, a list of the 400 biggest firms by U.S. attorney head count, and with the need for
workplace legal services still surging, the firms' heads say they don't expect to stop growing anytime
soon.
The three employment firms to break the top 50 of the Law360 400 are Littler Mendelson PC, Jackson
Lewis PC and Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC.
Littler was the largest of the employment specialty firms on the list, clocking in at No. 16 with 967
attorneys in the U.S. Meanwhile, Jackson Lewis ranked No. 34 on the list with 767 U.S.-based attorneys
and Ogletree came in at No. 47 with 694 attorneys in the U.S.
What has caused these labor and employment powerhouses to staff up to levels matching those of fullservice firms that cover a slew of practice areas? Leaders at all three of the employment firms that
found themselves among the top 50 stressed to Law360 that they had not grown haphazardly but had
snagged talent across the U.S. in an effort to keep up with client demand.
“We are a reflection of the market and of the employer community in the U.S.,” Littler's co-president
and managing director Jeremy Roth said. “We did not set out one day to say, 'Let's become the largest.'
It was not a part of our strategy to be the biggest, but what that is a proxy for is, 'Let's be where clients
can use our services.'”
Especially as businesses have looked to decrease the number of firms they engage as outside counsel in
recent years, the boutiques have grown to meet the needs of multistate employers that want all of their
labor and employment issues handled by one firm, firm leaders said.
These firms say they can provide even more value to these national clients because they have a deep
bench of experts on any federal or local employment law issue, so they don't need to reinvent the wheel
for each new situation that arises for an employer.
“Success breeds success, and because of the volume of work we get, we can be very efficient in how we
service our clients,” Ogletree's managing shareholder Kim Ebert said. “On any employment issue, it's
sort of 'been there, done that' for us. We have always already come across whatever the particular
problem or challenge might be.”
This efficiency also extends to pricing, as boutiques not only charge lower rates than full-service firms in
many cases, but also allow for more flexibility for alternative billing methods, firm leaders say.
Meanwhile, developments at general practice firms have also allowed the boutiques to scoop up highquality talent.
“General practice firms have been devaluing the labor and employment practices, and a lot of very
talented labor and employment lawyers are migrating from general practice firms to firms like ours,
where we will support them and give them opportunities to prosper professionally and where they
won't be priced out of their practices, which is what is happening at general practice firms,” Ebert said.
Those same firms know they can kick labor and employment work to the boutiques without fear that
attorneys there will try and poach the clients.
“We represent many many law firms in their own employment issues, and we get many, many referrals
from major law firms,” Jackson Lewis' Chairman Vincent Cino said. “Because we're limited in what we
do, there is no question that we will respect client loyalties, and if another firm refers clients to us to
handle a matter, they don't have to worry about us taking their work.”
And there is plenty of labor and employment work to go around.
“Every year we seem to get more and more work,” Cino said. “If you look at the federal and state court
dockets, litigation over employment laws is always in the top one or two in terms of cases filed, so there
is a ton of work.”
Coupled with compliance work and work in such areas as employee benefits, workplace safety and
immigration, this steady stream of litigation offers plenty to keep the boutiques busy and growing.
Three other employment firms made it into the Law360 400: Fisher & Phillips LLP at No. 146, Ford &
Harrison LLP at No. 247 and Constangy Brooks & Smith LLP at No. 270.
Methodology: Law360 surveyed U.S. law firms on domestic attorney and partner head count
information as of Dec. 31, 2013. Firms based outside the U.S. were not surveyed, and only attorneys
based in the 50 states and the District of Columbia were included in the responses. For firms that
declined to provide head count information or did not respond by the survey deadline, Law360
tabulated estimated head count data between March 14 and March 18 using either the firms' websites
or Martindale.
--Editing by Kat Laskowski.
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