At some point, every BigLaw veteran has considered hanging out a shingle.
Turns out there’s a boutique in LA that’s actually doing it just the way it’s imagined.
The Los Angeles Daily Journal recently did a feature (embedded below) on Zuber & Taillieu, where they’re living the dream.
The firm was founded in 2003 by brothers Tom (Rutgers BS ’94, Harvard MPP ’99, Columbia JD ’99) and Jeff Zuber (Rutgers BS ’96, Indiana JD ’99) and friend Olivier Taillieu (Arizona St. BA ’96, George Washington JD ’99). Tom, a patent litigator, went from White & Case New York to O’Melveny’s LA office, where he met Olivier. Over cigarette breaks, the two came up with the plan to strike out on their own. Two years later, Josh Lawler, a corporate associate at Skadden’s LA office joined up.
Turns out they have the magic touch. Not longer after Lawler joined, the firm started growing from outside the circle of friends. The roster now consists of 22 lawyers, of which 11 are partners.
That’s double the number of lawyers from just a year and a half ago, when the firm was featured as a “pocket boutique” by The Recorder. Even back then, it was recognized as a sought-after destination for big-firm lawyers who needed a break from the lifestyle but still wanted the top-notch colleagues and work.
Despite having been started by lawyers who are young and were relatively junior at the time (they’ve all got 10+ years now), the firm has been able to lure in some very impressive laterals, including former partners from Gibson Dunn, Manatt Phelps and Katten Muchin.
How have they done it?
“[I told them] ‘You’re going to build something that reflects a bit of you. You can help us to steer this thing,’” Zuber said. “That’s going to appeal to some people and not appeal to some. There’s the notion that things are not as predictable as at a large law firm because we’re growing. That thing that is unattractive to somebody can be attractive to another type of person and it’s that second type of person we’re looking for.”
Their initial vision was to build from scratch a national law firm of global prominence that adheres to the highest academic and experience standards, recruiting only the best lawyers from the best large law firms – and they’ve succeeded by staying true to that simple formula.
Plus, Tom is a bit of a Pied Piper.
[Corporate partner Patrick] Del Duca, who left Manatt to join Zuber last year, said the managing partner has a knack for building practice groups. In strengthening the firm’s international client list, he has hired lawyers with multi-jurisdictional experience and staff with the cultural and language skills to back up the lawyers.
“He has a very good sense of relationships between human dynamics, client needs and building a sustainable platform to carry forward a practice,” Del Duca said. “When he encounters a new area, he makes sure to wrap his mind completely around it.”
[Corporate partner Jerry] Libby said the firm recently sent him to South Korea where he met with six firm’s clients. He said he moved to the firm in part because he saw in Zuber a talented managing partner.
“I was in Korea, came back with 45 business cards, and sent him a memo. He came back full of ideas of how to integrate these names into our practice and communications,” Libby said. “He lives for this.”
It also helps that the Zubers have genius in their genes. Their cousin Maria is a rocket scientist. Literally. She’s head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, at MIT and does all sorts of Mission-to-Mars consulting for NASA.
Olivier has talents of his own. He was runner-up on NBC’s “The Law Firm,” the short-lived Apprentice ripoff featuring Roy Black in the Trump role.
So go on, admit it. When you think about starting your firm, you think it will work out like it has for Zuber & Taillieu.
[Ed: Zuber & Taillieu is the firm behind the lawupdates.com feed you see on our front page and they carry our feed on that site.]
Daily Journal – Zuber & Taillieu
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Zuber is the nuts.
Zuber is the nuts.
good looks, great pedigree, strong talent. Is Zuber hiring?
good looks, great pedigree, strong talent. Is Zuber hiring?