Steve Nelson was quoted in an article written by Abigail Adcox, reporter at the American Law Media.
Specializing in niche practice areas is one of the routes small and midsize law firms in Northern Virginia have taken to stay viable and competitive, as more large law firms have set up offices in the region in recent years.
Government contracts, construction law, estates planning and family law are a few of the practice areas that these law firms in Tysons and surrounding cities in Northern Virginia are specializing in, and areas in which they either don’t typically have to compete with large law firms for work or are able to remain competitive regardless of their size with flexible billing structures and strong reputations in the community.
“There is still a thriving market for well-known, respected lawyers who have kind of niche practices, but it’s harder for smaller firms. Now, the advantage they have is that the fee structures are a lot lower,” said Nina Ginsberg, founding partner of Alexandria, Virginia-based firm DiMuroGinsberg. “There’s still a lot of individuals who don’t want to go to the big firms, or can’t afford to go to the big firms, small businesses.”
The four-lawyer firm has changed over the years to match client needs, as some larger law firms picked up their corporate work, according to Ginsberg.
“Our practice kind of evolved into a less corporate practice,” Ginsberg said. “And my partner, who was an ethics expert, started developing much more of his practice around representing lawyers with bar complaints and testifying as an expert.”
Small and midsize firms in the region have also benefited by specializing in practice areas, such as estate planning, that larger firms tend not to have as much expertise or resources for.
“A lot of the large law firms don’t do estate planning anymore, and I get referrals from attorneys at big law firms,” said Debby Cochran, founding partner of Tysons-based Cochran Law Group, which has four attorneys, adding that the firm does a lot of fixed-fee work.
Flexible billing structures and rates have given small and midsize firms an advantage in areas where they are competing for business, according to several firm leaders.
“Our rates continue to provide a great advantage. The rates reflect a 50-60% discount from large firm rates and can often be a significant discount even from Washington metropolitan-area law firm rates because our rates are connected to the Richmond market,” Justine Fitzgerald, Hirschler’s Tysons office managing partner, said in a statement.
However, small and midsize law firms continue to face challenges from succession planning to recruiting to talent retention.
Firms on the lateral market in Northern Virginia face a “shortage of partner-level talent,” according to Steve Nelson, executive principal at The McCormick Group, as “there’s not that many people on the market who are looking to make a change.”
Nelson, who publishes a monthly newsletter on lateral activity in the Washington, D.C., and Texas markets, said that there were 24 lateral moves in Northern Virginia this year through the end of May, just a fraction of the several hundred moves seen across the Beltway, involving lateral moves between small, midsize and large law firms.
It comes as more firms have opened offices in Northern Virginia in recent years. Haynes and Boone launched an office in the area earlier this year by adding 19 lawyers from locally based boutique Smith Pachter McWhorter. Other firms, such as Virginia-based Woods Rogers, are also considering opening an office in Northern Virginia, while others look to expand their footprint in the region.
It comes alongside more companies setting up their corporate headquarters to Northern Virginia, such as Hilton, Amazon and Capital One. And the arrival of companies and firms in the market has attracted more name recognition to the area.
Paul Varela, founding partner of Varela, Lee, Metz & Guarino, which has offices in Northern Virginia and San Francisco and specializes in construction law with 26 attorneys firmwide, said that the name recognition for the area has helped his firm in some respects, as the firm has already historically competed with small and large law firms for client work.
“In a sense, I welcome it. I welcome the introduction of giant law firms into Northern Virginia because it doesn’t hurt me competitively in my profession. And if anything, it gives more stature to my geographic location,” Varela said.
