Not every law firm is suffering from declining revenues, facing layoffs or contemplating mergers to shore up their firms. At least one is doing it the old fashioned way – adding more lawyers.
Chicago based Arnstein & Lehr is looking to double its Florida attorney headcount and expand its Chicago office from 93 to 120 lawyers.
The firm is looking to increase its Florida force to 90 lawyers from the current 43 in an effort to give all its practice groups a presence in there. Arnstein & Lehr has offices in Miami, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.
Chairman Ray Werner says the plan is to hire the attorneys over the next several years so that it has a presence in the state in all of its key practice areas, especially business areas such as bankruptcy and health care. Werner says the firm isn’t interested in expanding geographically or through a merger.