Chicago health care partner Fredric Entin was frank with the Polsinelli leaders who came up from Kansas City, Missouri, in an attempt to lure him away from Foley & Lardner in 2008: He hadn’t even heard of their firm prior to receiving a call from a headhunter. But Entin listened to Polsinelli’s plan to take advantage of the firm’s concentration of lawyers in low-overhead markets, such as Kansas City and St. Louis, to compete for price-sensitive health care work.
The firm had 18 health care lawyers in Missouri and only occasionally handled assignments outside the Midwest. But if they could offer more comprehensive services than regional firmand at lower rates than national firmsPolsinelli’s leaders thought they could grow the practice area. The pitch was aspirational, to be sure, but Entin bought it and joined Polsinelli in April 2008.
