The Chartwell Law Offices has opened in Medford, N.J., marking its third new office in five months.

The firm opened the new location Oct. 22 with the addition of new partner Harry R. Blackburn, former head of Medford-based Harry R. Blackburn & Associates.

Chartwell CEO Clifford A. Goldstein said the new office was necessitated by a growing base of New Jersey clients, as well as a number of "multi-state clients who have been referring us New Jersey business."

"We've reached the critical mass that it's important to have a physical presence in New Jersey and to bring more New Jersey-recognized attorneys into the mix," he said.

Goldstein said Blackburn was introduced to the firm through a recruiter."I think Harry's primary interest was getting a deeper bench; more people around to support him in his business," Goldstein said.

"They were looking to expand and I wanted a depth of personnel that I didn't have as a small firm," Blackburn said.

As it turned out, the pairing made sense for both parties, as Blackburn brought with him to Chartwell two new practice areas.

"He added surety and fidelity bond litigation and construction litigation, which are very much compatible with the insurance and casualty litigation we already do," Goldstein said. "We think it's a really good match in terms of practice areas and geography."

Frank D'Amore of Attorney Career Catalysts said surety and fidelity bond litigation, in particular, is "sort of a staple bread-and-butter" type practice that doesn't vary much regardless of the economic climate.

"If anything, it might be slightly off right now, because a lot of that bond work is tied to construction and there hasn't been a lot of construction lately, but I doubt that it's up or down in any significant way," he said.

"Like everyone else, my practice has shrunk somewhat," Blackburn said, but added that he has found the surety business to be "a continuum and that, especially in bad times, bonds tend to be called upon more often."

GROWTH AND FLEXIBILITY

The Medford location marks Chartwell's third new office opening since June, when the firm established a Wilmington, Del., post with the addition of two attorneys from Wilmington-based Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor.

The firm followed that move up by opening an office in New York City in July with the addition of two new partners from New York firms Clausen Miller and Bruckmann & Victory.

The Valley Forge, Pa.-based firm now has additional offices in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

And, according to Goldstein, there are "three or four more potential deals happening."According to Goldstein, the recession has led to "a lot of little cracks that have been opening all over the place," leading to a wealth of hiring opportunities for firms like Chartwell.

Goldstein attributed his firm's ability to continue expanding in an inhospitable economy to a combination of good fortune, smart business tactics and calculated risk-taking.

"We've been lucky, primarily," he said. "You need to go into the downturn with cash in the bank, a solid book of clients and a group of partners who are willing to take additional risks rather than retreat and retrench and hunker down under their desks."

But those risks must not be taken haphazardly, he said.

"This firm's never been risk-averse, but we're also not stupid," he said. "The people we are going after are smaller firms and solo practitioners or singular spinoffs or [multi-lawyer] spinoffs from bigger firms. We're trying not to bite off more than we can chew."

Goldstein said that he believes attorneys are attracted to Chartwell because of the firm's ability to operate with "very little bureaucracy."

"We're young and extremely flexible, so we've made all sorts of arrangements and agreements on the fly that bigger firms would take months of political haggling to accomplish," he said.

BULKING UP IN N.J.

Goldstein said that it is currently "to be determined" whether any of the other five attorneys from Blackburn's previous firm will make the move over to Chartwell.

The other option would be for Chartwell to simply shift some of its Philadelphia-based lawyers to New Jersey, Goldstein said.

In the meantime, Chartwell partner Michael J. Alivernini has made the move from the Philadelphia office to the Medford office to help Blackburn and the two have already tried their first case together.

"I think it's a good opportunity for him to develop his own niche in New Jersey with Harry," Goldstein said of Alivernini.

Goldstein called the client book Blackburn brought with him "significant."

"It's several lawyers' worth of existing surety and fidelity and construction litigation from a pretty good mix of clients," he said, adding that many of Blackburn's clients are completely new to the firm, giving Chartwell an opportunity to cross-sell existing products and services to a brand new client base.

Blackburn said most of his clients from his previous firm made the move with him to Chartwell.

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