The Benefits Of A Long-Term Working Relationship With A Medium-Sized Law Firm
In this ever-more-litigious society, the odds that you will require the assistance of a professional lawyer in some way go up every year. Many people (both ordinary citizens and high-net worth individuals) consider it an excellent idea to form a more-or-less permanent relationship with a single law firm to meet all of their needs for legal counsel. If you’re considering this step yourself, you should strongly consider choosing a medium-sized firm rather than a large one or a small one. Here’s why.
Defining “Medium-Sized” Law Firm
Obviously declaring that a particular law firm is “medium-sized” is a subjective statement. Geography plays a significant role here; a firm that would be considered medium-sized on the North Shore, Auckland, would be enormous in Kaitaia, Northland. As a general rule of thumb, though, no firm can be considered medium-sized if it has less than a dozen lawyers on staff. At the other end of the spectrum, law firms graduate into the “large” category if they have more than about 50 lawyers on their payroll.
Expertise In A Variety Of Areas
The biggest benefit of the medium-sized firm is that it will almost certainly have a well-rounded variety of North Shore lawyers with different areas of specialisation. (This may not be the case for medium-sized firms in the largest cities, though.) Having access to a broad range of different legal skill sets is essential in a long-term relationship with a firm. Your legal needs will change over time, and you want to work with a firm that is diverse enough to give you expert advice no matter what your situation is.
Continuity Of Service
A long-term relationship with a law firm can potentially last for decades. You want to do firm with a firm that has good odds of staying in business for that length of time. Medium-sized firms have an advantage over both smaller and larger firms in this respect. Before passing the critical threshold and growing into medium-sized firms, smaller ones are vulnerable to closing when just a handful of lawyers have to leave the firm. (e.g. due to retirement, death, relocation, etc.) Firms that have grown into really large operations may be dramatically changed by the experience, and major reorganisation is likely at fairly regular intervals. This could eliminate some of the legal services you depend on. Medium-sized firms give you a workable balance where the same services will be available without relying too much on any single lawyer.
Personal Attention Without Limited Access
As with most forms of professional service, you always want to get personal face-to-face interaction with your lawyer. It is especially important to have relatively easy access to your lawyer — specifically the lawyer representing you — when you are involved in a major legal event. At a large firm, your case might well be passed off from lawyer to lawyer, making it difficult to form a solid working relationship with any one person. In contrast, at a small firm you will stand a better chance at working exclusively with a single lawyer, but that same lawyer will likely be working a heavy load of cases and have obligations to many other clients. The individual lawyers in a medium-sized firm strike the best balance between personal responsibility and availability. They will probably have a junior solicitor working alongside them but they partner will be over-seeing your case.
Summary – Why A medium-sized North Shore Law Firm Is a Good Idea
Hopefully, these points have helped you recognise the significant advantages of making a medium-sized law firm your long-term provider of legal advice and service. While no single law firm has the expertise to handle every legal issue, a medium-sized firm gives you access to an excellent range of talent that should be more than enough to handle all of your routine legal matters. Picking out a medium-sized firm and sticking with it frees you from the responsibility of selecting a lawyer every time you are presented with the need to hire North Shore lawyers.