When you are injured in an accident, you might wonder if a large law firm or a small law firm is best for you. I’m sure both small and large law firms feel they are best for your needs, but for me personally, I have made a deliberate effort to keep my law firm small over the years. I did this for one important reason – because I believe someone who has been catastrophically injured or lost their life deserves personal attention. Having a small law firm makes it possible for me to familiarize myself with every single case in my office. I know who is working on it with me and what is happening at any given moment with that case. It is much easier to keep the client informed about their case and in fact, every single letter, no matter how small, is sent to our clients.
An added benefit with a small firm is that it ensures the secretaries know our clients when they call. The lawyers know all of our clients and in the Segal Law Firm, each case is assigned to two lawyers, leaving me free to supervise each case. Some of the more complex cases may demand more of my attention than the simple ones, but regardless of complexity, I remain involved in each case. I have been practicing law 30 years now, and I am still in the courtroom. This means that if I need to be out of town to take depositions, clients know they can talk to my secretary and reach me if they need to talk to me at a certain time and at a certain number; I am rarely, if ever, completely unreachable, which is why being small helps a great deal in delivering quality personal service to our clients.
How Many Lawyers Work for both Small & Large Law Firms?
I believe the American Bar Association knows specific numbers, but in my opinion, a small firm consists of 1 to 6 lawyers, a mid-size firm is 6 to 15 lawyers and a large firm is 20 lawyers or more. When a law firm employs 20+ lawyers, I really don’t know how it is possible to track each and every case and most likely, personal service starts to deteriorate somewhat. Law firms of this size tend to lean towards what I call the cookie cutter mentality – they run their clients in one end of the law firm and out the other end.
Most of the time, it is the corporate law firms who become this large because law firms that handle cases for catastrophically injured people, such as members of The Inner Circle of Advocates, tend to keep their law firms small because they want to provide that personal attention.
If you have questions about how a small, quality law firm can handle your case, click on the Contact Us tab at the top of the page or call 855-344-9100.