A Comprehensive Look at Legal Firms in Michigan
Over the past decade, the legal landscape in Michigan has evolved significantly. Once the home of the largest automotive companies in the world, Michigan is now also the heart of one of the most dynamic legal markets in the Midwest. The tech boom and the growth of healthcare, finance, and manufacturing industries have boosted demand for legal services, while long-term unemployment rates have forced many small and solo practitioners out of the market. The legal industry in Michigan now stands on the brink of its next wave of development, with a greater share of larger firms serving the state’s most prominent and sophisticated legal clients.
The state is now home to 20 of the Am Law 200, as ranked by population and employment size, and 17 of the Am Law 100, as ranked by revenue. Combined revenue among these large firms exceeded $2.2 billion in 2017, and the industry is projected to add an additional 4,500 jobs over the next seven years. Among the largest firms, Dykema Gossett (No. 136, Am Law 200), jonka on $20 million in revenue, and Honigman (No. 167) which is generating $37 million, have contributed to the growth of the local legal market. In 2017, Dykema Gossett reported revenue of $20 million and profits per partner of $548,000. However, similar performance is being seen at other firms across the state . For instance, Varnum, Miller Johnson, and Dinsmore & Shohl are all doing well.
Coming out of the recession, the industry is competitive. Small firms don’t have the capacity or budget to tackle big cases. Mid-sized firms convince large clients that they can provide the same level of experience and expertise they would get at larger firms, but at a fraction of the cost. After the crash, large law saw unprecedented cuts, including layoffs, attrition, and bonus reductions; in Michigan, however, firms are beginning to rebound.
Still, Michigan is seeing a large number of lawyer departures. Michigan was top in the country for total departures, as quoted in the 2015 U.S. Workforce Division 2.0 Report by Altman Weil, and in 2016, the survey showed it still at the top for total departures, clocking in at 827 departures that year. That’s more than 11.6 percent of the workforce. Some of the exodus is a result of retiring baby boomers, but it seems early indications of the potential uptick of the legal industry and the more competitive marketplace is enticing lawyers to stay and practice, rather than retire or leave the industry.
The ABA recently pegged Michigan as the best state to practice law. Between the drop in unemployment, a rising GSDP per capita, and decreasing poverty level, Michigan is on the rise and disrupting the robust legal industry in the Midwest.
How we Ranked the Largest Firms
In order to determine the the largest "Law Firms" in Michigan, we rely on three criteria; Number of Attorneys, Annual Revenue and number of Offices. A narrow term, "Law Firm" typically describes a group of lawyers who practice law under a common name such as a partnership or corporation, and share revenues. A "Law Firm" can contain one or more "Offices" in the same or different locations within Michigan or any other State.
For purposes of this post -"attorney", is described as all practicing attorneys in the law firm, including equity partners, non-equity partners, associates, counsel, contract attorneys and temporary lawyers. Contract attorneys are those that work for the law firm on a non-permanent basis either full-time or part-time; and contract attorneys are included in attorney counts only if they are employed on a full-time basis, several law firms employ contract attorneys on a part-time basis and those figures are not included here.
"Offices" – are described as any location in Michigan where the "Law Firm" leases or owns office space for.
"Revenue" is described as gross revenue without regard for expenses and costs.
Profiles of the Top Legal Firms
Bodman is one of Michigan’s largest law firms, with over 130 lawyers and nearly 180 staff members. The firm was founded in 1927, and while it has been headquartered in Detroit since its inception, Bodman still maintains a significant presence in Ann Arbor through its headquarters for Bodman Law PC. The firm’s practice areas include employer services, renewables, environmental, financial, insurance, international, real estate, intellectual property, corporate, litigation, health care, energy, and cybersecurity. A human-centric firm, Bodman works with clients to develop tailored plans to tackle even the most complex challenges. The firm has a number of community involvement initiatives as well, which support charities both in-state and across the US.
Established in 1852, Miller Canfield is one of the oldest firms in the state. In fact, it is the only law firm in Michigan that has existed continuously since the pre-statehood days before 1837, when the firm’s founder, Richard W. Canfield, joined with future Michigan Governor David Porter. The firm has more than 450 lawyers and has ten locations in the Midwest, Northeast, and California. Miller Canfield specializes in a wide range of practice areas, including business, labor and employment, environmental, intellectual property, real estate and environment, energy, immigration, litigation, litigation/ADR, tax, telecom, and government.
Jackson-builder C.D. Smith founded Hall Render in 1967. Since then, the firm has grown to more than 300 professionals nationwide, who serve nearly 1,000 health care clients across the US. These clients include more than 200 hospitals and health systems and more than 40 hospital foundations and endowment funds. Hall Render attorneys have been serving health care providers for more than 60 years. The firm’s practical, experience-based counsel reaches across a wide range of relevant issues, from developing and establishing health care institutions to guiding collaboration with multiple stakeholders to addressing state and federal regulations. On the transactional side, the firm has extensive experience in guiding legal processes such as reimbursement, licensure and certification, billing, and contracting with other health care organizations.
First established as a specialty firm in 1865, Warner Norcross has evolved into a full-service business law firm, with more than 270 attorneys. The firm has nine offices, with three located in Grand Rapids, two in Midland, as well as one each in Ann Arbor, Holland, Muskegon, and Southfield. The firm’s practice areas range from banking and finance to marketing, mergers and acquisitions, real estate, business law, estate planning, family law, nonprofit law, intellectual property, and litigation. Warner Norcross’ services are surprisingly diverse for a law firm. For instance, the firm’s trust and estate department handles more than 3,000 individual accounts every year, and the firm’s health care department works with more than 6,000 entities.
Honigman is Michigan’s largest law and professional services firm, with more than 300 professionals across nine offices. Established in 1911, the firm was initially named for its founder, Alfred Honigman, but was renamed to its current moniker in 1972. The firm provides a wide range of legal services and practice areas, including business, real estate, land use, alternative dispute resolution, commercial law, construction law, intellectual property and technology, labor and employment law, health care law, family business, franchising, international, litigation, mediation, privacy and data security, taxation, and white-collar criminal defense. In addition to traditional legal services, Honigman offers advisory, administrative, human capital, management, and strategic consulting services through HRS (Honigman Regulatory Strategies), HRM (Honigman Risk Management), HRN (Honigman Risk Network Enterprise Services), HCM (Honigman Capital Markets), and HED (Honigman Economic Development).
What Services Do the Major Law Firms Provide?
The largest law firms operating in Michigan are full-service firms, offering a wide range of services to their diverse client base. Common services offered are corporate law, litigation, intellectual property, and labor and employment, among others.
Corporate Law
Law firms that offer corporate law services will attend to the needs of companies across many sectors, from manufacturing to healthcare to services industries. Services offered include the creation and selection of the appropriate corporate entity, initial public offerings, bylaws, operating or partners’ agreements and offering documents, licensing agreements, and assistance with a variety of regulations that govern the corporate world, including the laws that govern public companies.
Litigation
Major law firms that offer litigation services in Michigan will handle lawsuits in all areas of law, including but not limited to contracts, personal injury, products liability, class actions and general liability. Some of the largest firms have departments that specialize in a specific area of litigation, such as premises liability or a particular type of business litigation.
Intellectual Property
Attorneys specializing in intellectual property (IP) help clients protect their creative and productive endeavors. Many of these firms provide extra services such as patent searching and analysis, filing, prosecution, and litigation of patent applications, IP counseling, advising on disclosures, assessing infringing activity and representing clients in IP disputes.
Labor and Employment
These attorneys counsel companies on creating, maintaining and improving workplace policy and compliance. They audit and update employee handbooks, assist with occupational safety and health administration (OSHA) issues, wage and hour advice, unemployment and workers’ compensation. Many may represent clients in state and federal courts, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and before other administrative agencies.
Large Legal Firms’ Impact on Michigan’s Economy
From a macro perspective, large law firms have a significant economic impact on Michigan. When they hire associates from outside the state of Michigan, they pay Michigan residents who have gone to law school outside of the state and now need to find jobs as attorneys. Thus, the largest Michigan law firms, in part, help retain young attorney talent in Michigan.
The largest Michigan law firms also hire contract attorneys, and many experienced Michigan attorneys work as contract attorneys for these firms. Contract attorneys are also hired by legal staffing companies who provide attorneys to the largest Michigan law firms, and they are treated as employees of the staffing company rather than as employees of the law firm. This indirect employment benefits the Michigan economy as well.
Large Michigan law firms also bring in work that will be performed in Michigan and that will generate fees to be paid to Michigan workers , including break-fix work, document review work, and deposition and court reporting work. A recent Michigan law firm deposition took three deposition to complete, at three separate locations across Michigan, and employed more than a dozen Michigan residents.
In addition to job creation, large Michigan law firms donate dollars and hours to hundreds of legal services agencies in Michigan, helping those agencies connect residents of Michigan with attorneys who can assist them with legal issues. Often, these assistance programs are helped on the ground by Michigan attorneys employed directly or indirectly by large firms.
The Future of Large Legal Firms in Michigan
As technological advancements continue to drive efficiencies in the legal services market and clients demand more for less, the future of large law firms in Michigan will be shaped by how well they can adapt to these new realities. The automation of more routine tasks and the use of alternative delivery methods will be critical for large firms to maintain their competitiveness. For instance, artificial intelligence technologies are already enhancing the due diligence process for large corporate transactions and could soon replace junior associates for a variety of tasks. Law firms that embrace these changes will likely emerge as leaders in the redefined legal market.
Moreover, clients will continue seeking transparency and flexibility with billing. Clients are looking to control costs and predict their budget more accurately by requesting fixed fees or retainer agreements when engaging in large, long-term projects. The challenge for large firms is to be able to predict what a specific level of work will cost, which even with past experiences is not always an easy task. However, adversarial settings such as litigation and contested matters do not lend themselves easily to fixed fee work. Of course, quality remains the most important factor for clients; and large firms with a nationwide or international presence can better address complex matters that require a consensus among numerous parties and interests.
Looking into 2020, the legal services marketplace will be even more crowded across all regions and specialties. As new entrants flooding the market will force large firms to limit the number of practice areas and types of matters offered in order to maintain profitability. The firms that can carve out a niche or build a strong reputation in a particular area of practice will have the best chance at long-term success. For many large firms the competition in Michigan is further complicated as their primary competition may not be other large Michigan firms but instead non-local firms that can offer clients the same benefits (lower rates, better resources) at the same costs.
How to Select the Right Firm for Your Needs
In addition to expertise in the relevant legal domain, common considerations when selecting a law firm include reputation, client reviews, and areas of practice.
Reputation
The reputation of a law firm can be a helpful metric to consider. A Google search may show reviews and ratings of a law firm. It’s often good to follow these links to see what the law firm is rated by their prior clients. However, take these ratings with a grain of salt, as certain law firms will hire companies that offer services to have their client leave behind high ratings , at the request of the law firm.
Areas of Practice
Many law firms will focus on a smaller number of practice areas in order to provide a higher degree of specialization. Clients may therefore consider how experienced the different lawyers within the law firm have, both personally and professionally, in the specific legal issues that the client may face.
Client Reviews
An important factor in selecting a law firm is to look for prior client testimonials. Many law firms will prominently display their reviews on their website.