Leadership Planning is Key at Expanding Mid-Atlantic Firm Offit Kurman

Tim Lynch Interviewed for The Legal Intelligencer

By:  Lizzy McLellan, The Legal Intelligencer

Tim Lynch is the managing partner of Offit Kurman. The mid-Atlantic regional firm got started in Baltimore in 1987, and opened in Philadelphia in 2006.

How big is your firm, where is it located and what are its primary areas of practice and focus?

170-plus attorneys and growing. We have 12 offices in four regions: Washington D.C. metro, Baltimore metro, Philadelphia metro and New York metro regions.

Our primary focus is to represent the privately held marketplace, from owner-managed businesses, to entrepreneurs and families of wealth, as well as to act as specialty counsel to institutional clients.

Please explain your firm’s governance structure and compensation model.

Governance:  The firm has a governing board with eight shareholders and the firm’s COO.  The board appoints a five-person management committee that runs the day-to-day operations of the firm.  The firm also has principals that manage on a regional and practice group level. Those attorneys report to the managing principal.  The firm also has a chief operating officer and a number of nonlawyer firm-level and regional-level managers.

Compensation model: Offit Kurman is a professional association.  All of the attorneys have a salary and the opportunity to earn objective bonuses based on their billable production and their origination.  The shareholders share in the profits of the firm as well.

What do you view as the biggest opportunities for your firm, and what are the biggest threats?

Opportunities: Expanding on a regional basis, leveraging our service platform with an affordable pricing structure.

Threats: Competition for lateral movement of attorneys.

After the recession hit, the prevailing theory was that midsize firms would start to see more work come their way from large clients who could no longer justify paying Big Law rates. What has been your experience?

Offit Kurman experienced growth in its institutional practice areas during the recession, as large clients pushed back on rates and large firms pushed out lawyers who could not meet the large firm metrics.  Offit Kurman added a number of our current attorneys during this timeframe. As Offit Kurman has grown a deep full-service platform while maintaining its pricing structure, it has become more attractive to large market clients.