Many lawyers cringe at the notion of their firms as consumer-oriented ventures — Law-Marts where clients cruise the aisles, shopping for package deals of lawyers, experts and accountants. Consequently, most firms strive to remain purely legal, insulated from the necessary, and expensive, business of outside consultants.
But for years, Howrey & Simon, an aggressive East Coast litigation firm with branches in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley, has run counter to the norm, developing and embracing a band of in-house economists, accountants and environmental scientists.
