While South Carolina’s largest law firms are still feeling the effects of a turbulent economy, many are starting to fill new markets and practice areas that are trending upward.
Transactional law and litigation practice areas held up well during the recent recession, and while the economy gradually improves those areas are also poised for growth.
At top-ranked Nelson Mullins in Columbia, litigation is the firm’s major practice area, accounting for about 50 percent of the firm’s workload.
“Corporate law comes in at about 30 percent,” said Jim Lehman, the firm’s managing partner.
Lehman, who joined the firm in 1989, has been managing partner for the past four years and oversees the firm’s 14 offices located across the eastern seaboard.
“The economy has brought about most of the changes I have seen across the board,” he said. “Bankruptcy has dropped off, while corporate venture capital and real estate are picking up.”
Nelson Mullins’ presence in South Carolina grew by 4 percent over the past year, expanding from 203 attorneys to 211, according to South Carolina Lawyers Weekly’s 2014 survey of the state’s 20 largest law firms. Nine of the 20 firms on the list experienced growth in the past 12 months, while nine firms reported fewer attorneys. Attorney staff levels at one firm, Smith Moore Leatherwood, were unchanged. And No. 20, Adams and Reese, did not make the list last year.
Nelson Mullins’ Lehman expects more growth in coming years.
“Real estate is on the rise in the short term, by virtue of the economy,” he said. “Economic development efforts are bringing in more corporate work, and among the larger mega trends are intellectual property, life sciences, and health care across the Carolinas and in the southeast.”
Nexsen Pruet holds its second-place place rank on the list this year, having dropped by one percentage point. It went from 128 attorneys in 2014 to 127.
Managing partner David Gossett said the firm, which has offices throughout the Carolinas, has been growing steadily over the past two years.
“We continue to grow, hiring 12 new associates and 11 laterals over the past two years,” Gossett said in a statement. “But what we are really doing is doubling down on exceptional client service.”
Gossett points to his firm’s increased ancillary services as reasons for growth in areas such as electronic discovery and information management, as well as public relations, communications and public affairs.
McAngus Gouldelock & Courie, with 73 attorneys in South Carolina, ranked fifth, up a notch from its sixth-place ranking in 2014. Though the firm’s headcount has dropped by four attorneys in South Carolina since last year’s rankings, the law firm continues to focus on growth, according to managing partner Jay Courie.
Founded in 1995, McAngus, Goudlelock & Courie has grown from its fledging roster of four attorneys to nearly 150 across the Carolinas, Tennessee and Mississippi, Courie says.
“We primarily are an insurance defense firm,” said Courie, who is also one of the founding partners. “We don’t know if this area of the law has grown, but it certainly has grown in our firm’s practice.”
Courie believes his firm’s growth is coming from insurance companies that are contracting with fewer firms for their defense work, rather than spreading it out among many firms.
“Insurance defense is a very challenging area,” he said. “The insurance industry has changed a great deal in the last five to 10 years, and as a firm, we are trying to change right along with it and stay abreast of the changing marketplace.”
Lehman, with Nelson Mullins, notices a similar trend.
He acknowledges that while Nelson Mullins is ranked the largest law firm in South Carolina, the firm is not large by national standards. While many large corporations are relying on in-house counsel, they are looking for ways to save money and are seeking support from outside firms along with lower-cost options.
“Firms throughout the Southeast are filling that niche by offering a sophisticated practice with a lower overall rate structure,” Lehman said. He believes this will lead to a significant transfer of work in the future.
He predicts the other practice areas that will expand in over the next two decades will include energy, health care, life sciences and technology.
Keith Vaughan, managing partner and chairman of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, forecasts growth in transactional law and litigation practice areas. He also sees strong growth in intellectual property law, including trademark, copyright and patent law.
“This is a solid area of business, and where we are expanding our footprint,” he said. “We are pursuing growth there, and we see a lot of potential.”
Womble Carlyle, with 71 attorneys in South Carolina, ranks sixth on the state’s list of largest law firms, and this year recorded a 3 percent increase over its 2014 headcount.
The firms with the largest percentage of growth in 2015 include 14th-ranked Richardson Plowden, which grew 38 percent, from 29 to 40 attorneys, and Clawson & Staubes, which grew 15 percent, from 34 to 39 attorneys, ranking 15th this year.
Frank Smith, managing shareholder with Richardson Plowden, saw growth in his firm’s litigation practice during the peak of the recession from 2008 to 2009. The recession caused an economic fall-out, spawning a variety of lawsuits throughout the downturn, according to Smith.
“A multitude of developments were halted in mid-construction, which led to many claims,” he said. “There were also banking issues, such as defaults.”
Smith, who holds a degree in civil engineering in addition to his law degree, focuses on laws relating to the construction industry. He started his career at Richardson Plowden and has practiced law there for 31 years.
Smith credits the firm’s diverse portfolio of practice areas as the key to weathering recent economic storms.
“We’ve tried to be a small firm with big firm capabilities by offering a broad range of services,” he said. “We’ve been extremely lucky and haven’t seen any drop-off, revenue-wise.
Turner Padgett, which reported a 22 percent decrease in the number of attorneys, from 83 to 65 over the past year, dropped from its fifth place ranking in 2014 to seventh in 2015.
Gallivan White & Boyd also saw a drop in rankings, going from ninth place in 2014 to 10th place in 2015. The firm recorded a 15 percent drop in attorneys from 61 to 52.
The sharpest decline in attorneys was at Rogers Townsend and Thomas, ranked 16th in the 2015 survey, which experienced a 29 percent decline last year, going from 45 to 32 attorneys. The firm was ranked 11th in 2014.
Overall, attorney headcounts are on the rise slightly in South Carolina. Collectively, the 20 largest law firms in South Carolina in 2014 reported a total of 1,284 attorneys at their firms. The 2015 largest law firms report a total of 1,285 attorneys.