In 2020, amid a global pandemic, economic turmoil and general uncertainty across the planet, several law firms of various sizes seized on the opportunity that arises in a crisis. Among them was New York-born securities boutique Murphy & McGonigle, which opened two offices in the highly competitive markets of San Francisco and Chicago.

For a firm that launched in 2010, on the heels of the Great Recession, perhaps the timing shouldn’t have been surprising. Ten years after its founding, the firm’s chairman, James Murphy, spoke with Law.com, looking back at the firm’s beginnings.