‘One size fits one’: What’s next for law firms whose partners have left

For many law firms, it’s “one size fits one” when it comes to reshaping a firm after partners have left to start their own practice.

Randi Lewis, managing director of legal recruiting firm Major, Lindsey & Africa, said a firm’s future following the departure of counsel depends on more than one factor, including the size of the firm and what the firm decides to do next.

“If it’s a smaller firm and a few partners with business leave, a number of things could happen,” Lewis said in a recent interview with The Daily Record. “Either they get another partner with a lot of business quickly, or they have to be acquired, or in some cases, they’re going to disband.”

In the past few months, several partners of Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County law firms have departed to start their own practices, including Jensen & McComas and McKenna Russo. Bringing their prior experience to the new firms, the partners say they launched their practices with trust and intention.

Kelly Burgy, partner at McKenna Russo, said the new firm brings together more than 80 years of combined experience amongst six attorneys, with the firm providing legal services in estate planning, business law, real estate law and litigation.

“We’ve really built a team that can trust each other,” Burgy said. “We complement each other’s strengths, and we operate with shared values, so that way clients can always benefit from a more cohesive and seasoned approach.”

Brian Burkett, also a partner at McKenna Russo, said one of the goals in building the new firm was for the practice group to be smaller, which Burkett says allows for responsiveness and a deep connection to each client.

“There’s a season for everything and this was right for McKenna Russo, and this was the right people at the right time,” Burkett said of the attorneys’ decision to depart from Anne Arundel County firm Council Baradel.

In the past decade, Lewis said, estate planning lawyers have been leaving their previous firms to form their own firms, with employment lawyers also joining in on the trend. The reasons, Lewis said, can vary.

“There’s certainly different reasons for different partners leaving and forming their own firms, including [that] they’re entrepreneurial … and want to start their own firm,” Lewis said. “Others leave for different reasons, [including that] they have differences with the management of the firm, so they will decide to go out on their own, or their practice is just inconsistent with the way the firm is trending.”

“More often, lawyers move from one firm to the next because of something that is missing at their firm and that the other firm may provide a better platform for their work and their clients,” Lewis added.

For William McComas, founder of the recently formed Jensen & McComas, the urge to start a new firm began when McComas’ prior firm, Bowie & Jensen, lost two partners last year.

“There’s always been a focus on trying to grow the firm, because as you grow a firm, you can provide a future for the younger attorneys,” McComas said of Jensen & McComas. “What you’ll find often is sometimes in smaller firms, they get top heavy, and there’s no succession plan in order.”

Jensen & McComas, in addition to practicing business law, also serves clients in technology, intellectual property, and trust and estate matters. Victoria Sulerzyski and Cecelia Gans joined the practice, in addition to founder Mark Jensen.

Maria Worthington McKenna, managing partner at McKenna Russo, agreed with McComas that strategic growth is necessary to ensure clients’ needs are met.

“That collaboration where we’re specializing in our different practice areas becomes very helpful to our clients because it means we’re coordinating with our colleagues to make sure that the client’s needs and the client’s case or their stories are truly taken care of inside and out,” McKenna said.

But with goals of growing a firm also comes pressure, McComas said.

“There are people that say that you’re either a small firm or you’ve got to be a mega firm,” McComas said. “A lot of firms will say you either grow or you die.”

For firms that have lost partners to other practices, Lewis said much of their future depends on the firm’s resources, with larger firms being in a better position to replace departing lawyers.

“Firms, particularly in Maryland, know who they are and they know who their client base is,” Lewis said. “The ones that maybe feel that they need to be more will be acquired.”