Baltimore-based Offit Kurman is acquiring a small South Carolina boutique, renewing its push to expand its business model representing closely held businesses and their owners into the Southeast.

The 230-lawyer firm’s continued investment in the Carolinas is the latest example of midsized and larger firms looking to the Southeast for growth and expansion opportunities.

Co-founder Ted Offit said the firm started the year with big plans to recruit more Southeastern law firms to its specialized model, but the pandemic brought that to a grinding halt. Still, Offit said he’s recently started seeing more interest from other boutiques in joining. The firm, where revenue has increased by double digits in 2020, is continuing to seek growth in other regions.

“The new operating plan is to grow in the Northeast, Southeast and mid-Atlantic,” Offit said.

In a sign of renewed interest amid the pandemic, Offit Kurman will add a South Carolina office—its 14th—in January with the addition of two lawyers from the Law Offices of James C. Hardin III in Rock Hill. Hardin, an established estate planning practitioner with offices in South Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina—just 30 miles north of Rock Hill—will join Offit Kurman with Amy Montague from his firm.

“We’re pleased as could be to add Jim Hardin in South Carolina. It’s proof of concept that we can grow in the Southeast,” Offit said.