Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • July 8, 2019 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: Law By Natalie Missakian Special to the Hartford Business Journal W hen Connecticut law firm Day Pitney noticed a few years back that many of its high-net-worth and business clients were moving to Florida in search of warmer winters and lower taxes, it turned the potential challenge into a growth opportunity. Faced with the possibility of losing those clients to local firms or working with them from afar, it decided in- stead to follow them, merging in 2016 with a small Palm Beach County trust and estates firm and gaining its first foothold outside the Northeast. Another merger this year — with the boutique litigation firm Richman Greer — brought its Florida head- count to 22 attorneys in offices from Miami to West Palm Beach. Responding quickly to the changing needs of a more demanding clientele has been a key to Day Pitney's stay- ing power, especially in the cut-throat legal market that's emerged since the Great Recession of 2008, said Manag- ing Partner Tom Goldberg. Clients have become more sophis- ticated in their approach to working with outside counsel, he said, moving much of the more mundane legal work in house and demanding that outside legal firms "add value." "So you can never take any client re- lationship for granted," Goldberg said. "We and other firms have to prove ourselves every day." Day Pitney is one of three of Greater Hartford's largest law firms — along with Shipman & Goodwin and Pullman & Comley — that have recently marked their 100th year in operation, a milestone that is becoming harder to reach in an in- dustry that has undergone tremendous change and consolidation, experts say. "For a firm to reach the 100-year mark is really pretty significant," said Jim Jones, a senior fellow at George- town Law's Center for Ethics and the Legal Profession. "Especially today, when firms are being acquired and merging and disappearing … in this new competitive environment." After more than a decade of unprec- edented growth, the legal industry "was turned on its head" following the 2008 financial crisis as businesses faced intense pressure to cut their legal costs, Jones said. "All at once, clients were demanding efficiency and cost-effectiveness and predictability and, frankly, it caught a lot of law firms completely flat-footed," said Jones, who co-authors an annual report on the state of the legal mar- ket. "We've seen 75- or 100-year-old firms that have gone out of business at breathtaking speed." Firms most successful in weather- ing the upheaval are "really being proactive in addressing these kinds of [demands] their clients have," he said. One opportunity for law firms in regional markets like Hartford is that clients are increasingly seeing the value of using smaller and midsized firms, he said. "They're realizing that there are really good lawyers even in smaller firms," Jones said. "You don't need to have a big prestigious Wall Street firm doing everything on your matter." Key ingredients Alan Lieberman, managing partner at Shipman & Goodwin, said his firm has stood the test of time by staying true to its core values — service excellence, integrity, collaboration and collegiality — while also embracing change. Legal Milestone Amid consolidating industry, three Greater Hartford law firms reach rare century mark Continued on page 10 >> HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER Three major Greater Hartford law firms are marking their 100th year in operation. Their leaders include (from left to right): Pullman & Comley Chairman James Shearin, Day Pitney Hartford Managing Partner Kathleen Monnes and Shipman & Goodwin Managing Partner Alan Lieberman.

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