Who are some notable lawyers that started their own firms fairly quickly? Forum

[Bossman9]

I was reading about a Texas lawyer named Mark Lanier who started his own firm 5 years after practicing.

Was wondering if you guys can think of some other lawyers that did something similar.

[Joachim2017]

I was reading about a Texas lawyer named Mark Lanier who started his own firm 5 years after practicing.

Was wondering if you guys can think of some other lawyers that did something similar.

I think the Kobre & Kim founders were pretty (relatively) young? A few years in Big Law and a few in government.

[s1m4]

Ted Fang who started a small EC/VC firm that was built up and acquired by Fenwick - hes now a partner at a VC.

[Lacepiece23]

Didn’t Willie Gary start right out? I know Matt Driggs did who has a huge PI firm out west that does well. Probably a lot of people like Matt Driggs who may not be the superstar trial lawyer, but have a massive firm they started out of school.

[nealric]

Joe Jamail famously went solo pretty much right out of law school. He was at Fulbright for what he described as "20 minutes" before he left. He did solo for a while, then spent less than a year at the DA's office before going solo for good.

But that was 70 years ago. Totally different world.

[JusticeJackson]

I read the Edward Bennett Williams book a few years ago. Seems like he was at Hogan for only a few years before starting what eventually became Williams & Connolly.

[Bossman9]

I read the Edward Bennett Williams book a few years ago. Seems like he was at Hogan for only a few years before starting what eventually became Williams & Connolly.

He's represented a lot of high profile clients. Quite an interesting list.

[Sangamon]

It's hard but doable. Recent one in Chicago comprised of fairly young lawyers (relative to large firms) but more corp focused. Much easier to do on the litigation side (and easier to make more money due to the nature of plaintiff's work).

[FluidMosaic]

I think the highest profile recent launch would be the Gerchen Keller capital guys launching Keller Lenkner after they exited to Burford capital.

They launched their own firm after 10 years post law school and presumably have have good contacts for a solid client base due to how successful and the nature of the business of Gerchen Keller capital was.

[soft blue]

If we're calling 10 years "fairly quickly," I think WLRK was founded about a decade after the principals graduated.

[FluidMosaic]

If we're calling 10 years "fairly quickly," I think WLRK was founded about a decade after the principals graduated.

Agreed - but as other posters have noted, its much different to launch today at that point versus the 60s where Keller Lenkner launched in '18.

Actually if we look at non-traditional "law-firm like" companies - Covenant Review (9 years) and Axiom (4 years) were both founded within 10 years of law school graduation. Covenant review does quasi-legal reviews of credit docs now (and has a 9 figure valuation) and everyone has been pinged about recruiters about Axiom.