If law firms were restaurants, most Am Law 100 and 200 firms would lay claim to gourmet status—something grand and classic like Le Cirque, or sleek and nouvelle like Nobu. Few would want to be thought of as Olive Garden, or—horrors!—Wendy’s or Taco Bell. But in defiance of conventional law firm wisdom, a handful of specialized labor and employment firms are espousing the chain-restaurant approach.
All over America—particularly in off-the-buzz cities like St. Louis, Detroit, and Mobile—labor and employment firms have been sprouting offices at an astonishing rate, sometimes opening in the same towns within weeks of each other. Of the three largest firms specializing in this practice, 700-lawyer Littler Mendelson now has 45 offices throughout the country, followed by 500-lawyer Jackson Lewis (36 offices) and 400-lawyer Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart (33 offices). Even smaller labor and emploment specialty shops, such as 200-lawyer Fisher & Phillips and Ford & Harrison, have 19 and 11 offices, respectively. Like fast-food operations, these firms are betting that their customers appreciate ubiquity, a predictable menu of services, and prices that won’t break the budget. And though routine work such as single-plaintiff litigation, human re¬sources advice, and employment law compliance counseling dominates their dockets, they also say they’re competing with marquee Am Law 100 labor and employment practices for bet-the-company class actions and wage and hour disputes.
