In the Maryland Daily Record's April 5th story "Lower rates at Venable LLP in Baltimore lure ex-DLA Piper partner," new Venable partner Anthony Rosso discussed the reasons he joined Venable. Two of the motivators he cited were Venable's better rates and greater support for the regional parts of his practice.
"I think that on the whole, based on what I now know, the rates tend to be more affordable [at Venable], and I think it will allow me to represent some clients on more day-to-day matters," said Rosso. "I think while I was at Piper the focus was more on larger clients, larger transactions, so I think some of my clients at Piper moved away from using Piper for some of the day-to-day matters, so I'm optimistic that having a little bit lower price point will allow me to get more involved with some of the clients that I'd like to work with. The more frequent interaction will lead to a bit more loyalty from some of those clients."
Offering clients lower rates is especially important in this economic climate, Rosso said. After getting used to scrutinizing legal bills during the recession, in-house counsel will make that their new way of life, he predicted.
The article also quoted Venable partner Herbert D. Frerichs, who previously worked with Rosso at DLA.
"I think he finally realized that for his type of middle-market practice, Piper was not working out for him and it wasn't going to change in terms of the rates and the interest in middle-market platform," Frerichs said.
"There's a big difference between a 500-lawyer firm and a 3,000-lawyer firm," Frerichs said. "Even though we're big, we're not nearly that big and don't have the overhead that they've got."
"I think that on the whole, based on what I now know, the rates tend to be more affordable [at Venable], and I think it will allow me to represent some clients on more day-to-day matters," said Rosso. "I think while I was at Piper the focus was more on larger clients, larger transactions, so I think some of my clients at Piper moved away from using Piper for some of the day-to-day matters, so I'm optimistic that having a little bit lower price point will allow me to get more involved with some of the clients that I'd like to work with. The more frequent interaction will lead to a bit more loyalty from some of those clients."
Offering clients lower rates is especially important in this economic climate, Rosso said. After getting used to scrutinizing legal bills during the recession, in-house counsel will make that their new way of life, he predicted.
The article also quoted Venable partner Herbert D. Frerichs, who previously worked with Rosso at DLA.
"I think he finally realized that for his type of middle-market practice, Piper was not working out for him and it wasn't going to change in terms of the rates and the interest in middle-market platform," Frerichs said.
"There's a big difference between a 500-lawyer firm and a 3,000-lawyer firm," Frerichs said. "Even though we're big, we're not nearly that big and don't have the overhead that they've got."