Goodbye, BigLaw
Partnering with two experienced lawyers
to launch a boutique firm
Alex Medina and Brandon McKelvey, former lawyers at DLA Piper and Seyfarth Shaw respectively, had a desire and a drive to break free from BigLaw. While they knew how to try cases, they had no experience branding a company, launching a website, or positioning a law firm in the market. They would need their firm to instill confidence in their potential clients, even though they no longer had the backing of a BigLaw firm. Additionally, Alex and Brandon’s peers would need to feel confident referring clients to them, since that would be a primary source of potential clients.
To ensure Alex and Brandon would be taken seriously by their clients and peers, a strong and confident brand for the firm would be required. Additionally, leaving the security of BigLaw necessitated the development of a dependable client acquisition strategy that would ensure steady business.
Every aspect of the front-facing brand that a potential client would see was designed to be clear, compelling, and downright beautiful. From the website to the business cards, from the messaging to the photos, Medina McKelvey was positioned to be a best-in-class legal brand; a brand that turned heads in the industry. Their former peers and partners at the BigLaw firms were impressed, resulting in numerous congratulatory and complementary emails sent to Alex and Brandon after their firm launched. Additionally, a unique approach to gaining clients was instituted by way of a “pitch packet” which became the firm’s single most effective tool to gain new clients.
Four years in, Medina McKelvey LLP is looked up to as one of the premier business and wage and hour litigators in the region. The respect they have earned from their peers, built in part by their branding and marketing strategy, ensures a consistent and growing client pool. They have added a third partner since the firm’s founding, and they are enjoying more freedom, flexibility, and income than they ever did while at a BigLaw firm. In addition, they can wear shorts and flip flops to the office whenever they feel like it, which they might argue is the single greatest benefit of leaving BigLaw.
“We offer the same level of service to our clients as we did at the BigLaw firms but at 30- to 40-percent lower rates. And without all the overhead, we still make more from each client. It’s a win-win. Launching Medina McKelvey has been one of the best decisions we’ve made in our careers.”
-Brandon McKelvey, Medina McKelvey LLP
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