Lawyers take the leap from bigtime to small

By ELLEN READ

In business the usual pattern of success is to go from small to large, but that is not the case for three Auckland lawyers who have left large firms to form their own small practice.

Greg Lee, Davey Salmon and Julian Long opened for business as LeeSalmonLong this year and say client interest has been phenomenal.

They toyed with other more original names but decided there were some shackles of conservative legalese that just couldn't be shaken.

"At least we arranged it in order of descending height," Salmon said.

The lawyers say they represent three of the country's 10 largest companies and a range of other listed and unlisted firms.

So how did a small firm with young lawyers manage this?

"People know by name the lawyer that they want even from a big firm. You don't need to have the big brand. It's a small market," Salmon said.

All of them have done their time at large law firms but said getting caught up in cumbersome bureaucracy and management stopped them from spending as much time as they wanted practising law.

"This is about being a lawyer again," Salmon said.

Money to set up the company came from a range of sources, including private capital from themselves and some borrowing.

Start-up costs were minimal as most of their worth is in their education and experience. But they did work on a door propped on boxes in their open plan office to begin with. Things have progressed to the stage where they all have desks.

But they have retained the open plan approach, saying it makes it easier to function as a team.

The partnership they run is a simple model. The three of them share the decisions and responsibilities.

They shun formal partners' meetings, saying working in the open-plan environment renders them unnecessary.

To avoid spending a lot of time maintaining their computer system themselves or the expense of using an IT consultant, the lawyers work through a Ponsonby application service provider.

They also use internet banking and other technology that suits their hours and schedules.

These hours and schedules, while no less taxing than with a big firm, can be more flexible to suit young men (all are in their early 30s) with young families.

Salmon said one of the hardest things they had encountered was feeling their way in the self-promotion front, but they had had support from clients, many of whom have been small business people themselves.

The plans involve taking on more staff - they have two employees at present - but they are cautious about expanding too quickly.

Said Lee: "We like not having the bureaucracy and politics of a big organisation."