Unique about the Levenfeld Perstein approach is what the article dubs the ''nonlawyer element.'' While nonlawyer management teams in traditional big firms typically receive less power than their more conventional counterparts, the responsibility and authority bestowed upon some higher-ups at LP, such as the executive director and the chief financial officer, are considerable.
Especially significant about this arrangement of power is how it enables the firm to save time, money, and resources for itself, and also the client. If a case is on a path to nowhere, the CFO can cut company losses and end their work on the case. The article notes a success story where the firm staved off $600,000 in taxes for a client that might have forced the business to close.
The Levenfeld Perlstein website says their firm is run like a business and is therefore better able to achieve clients' goals— because they understand the intricacies of business, the firm runs smoother, more efficiently, and with less hassle often experienced with big firm representation:
''We skillfully navigate complex real estate deals, huge national business transactions, and fierce bet-the-company litigation, and do this with small-firm personal service, fewer layers of lawyers, precise dedicated client teams, greater top-level partner involvement, and more efficiency. We offer the same level of technical skills without the bitter big-firm aftertaste.''For associates working at big firms, the ''bitter aftertaste'' is known to exist too. Common associate experiences at big firms revolve around the become-a-partner culture. Well-known, even to the layman, is the phrase billable hour and it's a concept that rules the lower rungs of big firm corporate ladders. Associates work incredibly long, hard hours in order to earn recognition and earn the firm big bucks. While exhausting hours are worked in order to prove drive and ambition, associates also know it's expected in their position. Some soon-to-be graduates interested in having a better work/life balance, are trying to explore other options for life after graduation.
This is where firms like Levenfeld Perstein can excel. According to the article, Chairman Bryan Schwartz ''plans to step back from the top post within the next six years, even though he's only 48, because he wants to give younger lawyers a sense of ownership and avoid the ‘destructive entitlement' that occurs when senior partners gain at the expense of younger lawyers.'' This is good news for budding attorneys hoping, and praying, to sidestep brutal associate years spent toiling away at a mammoth expense to their personal lives.
Levenfeld Perstein is ''focused on bringing young lawyers into leadership roles early on and giving them interesting legal work that comes with one-to-one partner-associate ratio,'' the article says. Although LP has ''declined to raise first-year associate pay to $160,000 because it didn't make economic sense for the firm as a whole,'' excellent candidates are still strongly attracted to the firm because they're willing to give back more to their associates. Without complete mental drain and exhaustion occurring in the workplace, associates can go home, revive and return the next day with more energy and productivity.
Rather than parasitic, it's more of a symbiotic relationship. It's a good deal for both parties.
