2 min read June 2023 — Focus: spoke with Allen Maines, a senior equity partner at Holland & Knight LLP, about the success the firm has had in the market and nationwide. “We are gradually approaching 2,000 lawyers, and we are gradually approaching $2 billion in revenues, so it has been a great experience. There are so many lateral opportunities that have found us, making Holland & Knight a deeper and richer collaborative environment than we were even a few years ago,” he said.
What have been some highlights for Holland & Knight over the last 12 months?
We moved on the Top 100 ranking by seven or eight spots, I believe. That is the biggest leap by far of any other law firm in the country. We have a strong national footprint, and we do a lot of North and South Hemisphere work.
How would you assess Atlanta’s current position given the economic environment?
Atlanta’s strength is that it is a great place to do business, and it has a low cost of living. It will be a challenge to continue to provide affordable housing close to where people work. There is still a lot of land available, but with well-paying jobs coming in, we have to be careful that we don’t price people out of the city limits like in San Francisco.
What shifts in demand have you seen, and what is currently keeping your firm busy?
Cyber-technology and protection have phenomenal demand, as well as healthcare services of all kinds. Atlanta is home to a great number of Fintech companies. Fintech compliance is a super growth area for Atlanta and the firm. We have also seen a lot of disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions as a result of the M&A boom and then the slowdown. Clients are concerned with precipitous stock drops, securities fraud and class action lawsuits. That is one thing we are seeing, as well as more suits between competitors. We are asked to help our clients avoid risks proactively and to extricate them retroactively. The other thing we are doing is helping them to efficiently procure experienced legal representation. A lot of lawyers don’t assume responsibility for addressing the inefficiencies within legal services. They can’t tell you how long it will take, or how much it will cost. Our pre-existing expertise allows us to provide clients predictability and expertise in an affordable way. That helps us and them through the tough times.
How has your firm adapted to the current economic environment?
The trick is balance and flexibility. We don’t do busy work, and we try to make the meaningful interactions among colleagues as rich as possible. We don’t have unnecessary in-person meetings, which affords flexibility. It is a nice balance.
How are you using technology to increase client satisfaction?
It is easier and faster to touch base with more clients per day with a quick Zoom call than driving to their office an hour away or flying across the country. They feel free to just pick up the phone without the fear of a giant legal bill. Our technology allows us to service clients at a better level.
What kinds of challenges do hybrid and work-at-home environments bring to your culture?
There is no substitute for growing as a young lawyer as it pertains to meeting in-person with more experienced lawyers. You can do a lot remotely, but that mentoring experience is better for everyone in person. Offices in the future will be smaller and there will be more flex-offices, where people don’t have their own private space. There is no need for law firms to have the kind of space they had in the past, and so another challenge will be to right-size the needed physical space. I would expect to see firms downsizing their real estate, and making their offices smaller and less private. Assigning workspaces will happen on an as-needed basis.
How is your firm handling the labor shortage?
By giving our lawyers more responsibility and greater roles to play so they can grow faster. We try to do less with fewer but more experienced lawyers, and the result is that dispute resolution is becoming faster and more affordable. It is not fun to be stuck in litigation where the process is slow and people are playing games. People go to law school because they want to be in the action. They don’t want to be stuck in busy work, so they want things to move along and be streamlined. Otherwise, it becomes drudgery. So we attract good people by providing them with the opportunities to grow that other law firms only talk about.
What is your outlook for the next two to three years?
Holland & Knight is a fast growing firm with very fair leadership. The people here are respected and have a good deal of flexibility. It is rewarding to work here, with few roadblocks to practicing law the way you want. We need more good lawyers and staff. We look for evidence of good judgment, ambition and character when hiring. We try to make it a fun and rewarding place to work, and we try to be at the top of the market. Culture is the most important thing, and we work hard on that, hopefully creating an environment in which our young lawyers can have fun and enjoy the ride.
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