Northern California has proven itself to be a legal market where just about every law firm wants to be—and a market where both the large and small can succeed.
Amid competitive pressures, some midsize firms have ended their run of independence of late, such as Cooper, White & Cooper joining with Am Law 100 firm Womble Bond Dickinson and Wendel Rosen combining with expected Am Law 200 contender Fennemore Craig.
Yet, leaders at several regional firms said they are bullish on their go-it-alone strategy, highlighting a commitment to organic and selective growth, as well as a sharpened focus on training and elevating next-generation talent.
Keker, Van Nest & Peters, a 44-year-old litigation firm whose clients include Google and Facebook, has used this approach to grow its attorney head count from about 80 in 2017 to 103 today, with plans to grow to about 120 by year’s end.
“The ethos of our firm [is that] we are focused on one thing: litigation with a trial emphasis, and our belief that we can do it better than just about anybody,” said Keker name partner Elliot Peters.
“We are doing great from a financial perspective, and a recruiting perspective and elevating homegrown talent to partnership,” Peters continued. “We don’t plan to change who we are or what we do.”
Though the firm tends to see a couple of departures to Big Law every year, and hasn’t hired a lateral partner in about two decades, it continues to grow its ranks with larger summer classes and a focus on extending stand-up trial opportunities to young lawyers.
Peters said the approach allows the firm to offer “extremely high-quality, efficient and stable teams” to clients. And its team approach helps the firm retain and expand client opportunities because clients aren’t just interacting with one partner, he said.
Peters said that at Keker, the firm has achieved a broad set of business generators. He rattled off a list of five teams that went to trial in the last six weeks, none of which were led by name partners at the firm.
That was accomplished in part because “it’s one thing to be a great trial lawyer, and one thing to build a firm,” Peters said, pointing to the firm’s founders John Keker and Bob Van Nest. “The latter requires generosity.”
“The strength of the wolf is now in the pack,” he added. “That makes us stronger and more stable because we have so many oars in the water rowing in the same direction.”
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