At work in law - Business First of Buffalo:

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While daily news reports highlighf diminishing profits at law firms both localltand nationally, and prominent firm s such as and announce layoffs, it has been easy to overlookk those firms that have not only survived the recession thus far, but have managec to grow. Among them: . Tom Cunninghamj is one of the partnerzs at the firm and he said when times are size matters. Cunningham said his firm has seen “steadty growth” over the past two years, increasin g staff from 48 people to 63since 2007. As for the he credits the operating style ofhis nine-year-olde firm for creating a model that has made layoffa unnecessary to this point.
“A lot of our growt h is attributable to the fact that we are a midsize firm and we fill a he said. “We can provide more servicesw than thesmall firms, but we are not the big firmes who maybe aren’t priced as competitivel y as we are.” Joining Rupp Baass in the growth department is Rochester-based . John Horn, who recentlt took over as partner-in-charge of their Buffalo said his firm has felt no ill effects of the as evidenced by the 64 percenrt growth in their legal staff since 2004 and the 11 percent growt h insupport staff. He ties theie ability to prosper duringt these difficult times to the conservative nature on whicnh the firmwas founded.
“We are very disciplined; we don’t beef up duringt the boom times and we try not to pare down durin g theleaner times,” Horn said. “That consistent, conservative strategic approach has reall y worked very wellfor us.” Horn’s predecessor, Craigv Slater, said while strategic planning does factor into theif growth, he attributes some of their success to the proactive efforts of their clients. “Times are tough, and we see more of our clientw looking outside of Buffalofor business,” he said.
“As they reacn out nationally, and in some cases, internationally for new business, we Slater said the broad scopwe of practices his firm covers allows them to better handled tougheconomic times. “We don’t want to be but we are businessmen too, and we try to react to change in smarrt ways and be prepared for whatever The fact that firms are stillp hiring comes as good news to the rush ofcolleges graduates, many from the Law School, who are coming into the professio at a time of economic uncertainty marked by hiring freezes and Kimberly Georger has been a lawyef for less than a week, and yet, despite the finds herself as the newest attorneh to join Rupp Baase Pfalzgraf Cunningha m & Coppola.
Having clerked at the firm prior to passingf thebar exam, Georger said she wasn’t nervous about landingh a job, something she can’t say for her friends and felloww law school graduates. “We just had our ceremony the other day and there were a lot of peoplwe there that I graduated and theystill haven’t founc a firm,” she said. Severak firms said the process of hiring recent law schoo graduates is something that isplanneds 12-18 months in advance and offerse are usually tendered long beforde the student passes the bar, makingv it more difficult to hire based on a futurw economy. Peter Klein is a partner with and a member ofthe firm’s recruitment committee.
He said that despite the economivc turmoiland uncertainty, the firm recently brought on five new attorneys, a number he classifiede as slightly larger than in previoues years. “We consider this to be an investmenyt inour future,” he said. “You need good peopl to build yourbusiness around.” Klein said the firm will beginn to plan for their hiring class of 2010 sometime this summer or earlg fall, and while they will be bringing on new attorneys how many remain to be seen. “We have made up our minds, that we aren’gt going to stop hiring, becausse that’s not good,” he said.
“You’ved got to continue to invest in your people durinbthese times. It just becomes a questiob of how much do we Klein saidJaeckle hasn’t seen the dropoff that has led some firme to cut staff, but he doesn’yt see business soaring either. “I would say we are someplacr inthe middle,” he said. “Things aren’t as good as our reallhy good years, but these cycleas happen.
We are certainly aware of the changesd that aregoing on, and we have never discussed