25 Years at a Glance

Twenty-five years ago, at the tender age of 33, I decided that the time was right to start a law firm focusing on construction and commercial clients. Together with a second-year associate named John Greenhall and a business lawyer, Cohen & Green was formed. Using an alias (Hunter & Brown) to hide our true identity, we located and built-out 5,000 square feet of office space, hired a clerical staff, and set out to compete with much larger and more established law firms.

While our timing was all wrong for a construction practice (the Savings and Loan crisis hit a year after we began and eliminated all private construction), we succeeded with our “can do” attitude. Based on a series of positive results for our clients, as well as softball, golf, and fishing trips with our clients, the Firm quickly gained local name recognition, market share, and an expanded group of lawyers. Yet, nothing in the first few years of the Firm’s existence gave me an inkling that we would morph from a small, local, construction boutique firm, into a full service, 55-plus lawyer firm with eight offices around the Mid-Atlantic region and work throughout the U.S. and abroad.

There is no question that the Firm had humble beginnings. Both the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh offices opened without furniture and with only a phone on the floor! Even the opening of our New York office was humbling as 10 of us from the Philadelphia office got stranded on the New Jersey Turnpike standing behind the guardrail trying to hail cabs to get to the Grand Opening party in Manhattan after our private bus broke down.

For our Firm to survive and prosper for 25 years it had to be both lucky and good. We are both. We have continuously earned successful results for our clients, either through settlement or verdict, not only in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, but up and down the eastern seaboard and across the country. Moreover, when the economy tanked twice in the last two decades, the Firm not only continued to prosper but grew.

In the late 1980s a surety for whom we had successfully handled a $7,000 case, came to us with dozens of litigation matters worth millions of dollars, which fueled our early growth. Five years ago, when the recession hit, business litigation involving shareholder and partnership disputes helped propel the Firm through difficult times without the need for layoffs.

One of the keys to converting a young law firm into an institution is the ability to build a core of key people and then add to it each year. Over the years, John Greenhall and I were blessed to have a number of legal stars join our ranks and build the core. George Pallas arrived in 1993 and Ed Seglias in 1995. Their emergence as rainmakers allowed us to shed some less productive business units and remake the Firm as Cohen, Seglias, Pallas and Greenhall in 1998. Four years later, Marc Furman brought his labor practice and joined both the Firm and Firm’s name. In the last ten years, Mike Payne brought his Federal Practice Group, we opened offices in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Wilmington, Tony Byler & Evan Blaker merged with our Firm and Chris Georgoulis brought his six-lawyer New York practice to the fold. Just as important, some homegrown talent emerged as
stars and became stalwarts of the Firm, including Jason Copley, Shawn Farrell, Ed DeLisle, Lane Kelman, Jon Landesman, and Lisa Wampler. Other key lateral hires like Judge Gene Cohen, Marian Kornilowicz, Jim Harker, Bob Beste, Wayne Buckwalter, and Lonny Cades helped the Firm develop commercial litigation, business transactions, trust and estates, employment, and creditors’ rights practices. Most importantly, the Firm has a solid core of young rising stars in its associate pool.
The Firm was built on the belief that its strength was the sum of its parts and not any one individual. Additionally, the Firm prides itself on treating its professional and administrative staff like family. Many of the staff have been with the Firm between 10 and 20 years and are integral to the success of our business. Any employer who is able to keep its core personnel intact for decades gives itself a competitive advantage. We certainly have benefited from this familial culture.

While our partners have a burning desire to succeed and an unswerving dedication to our clients, we try never to take ourselves too seriously. We recognize our success is a team effort. Some
of the more “experienced” attorneys recognize their limits with technology and gladly turn to our more “tech-savvy” associates and administrative staff for direction.

To say I am proud of the juggernaut we have built is an understatement. My partners are my brothers and sisters. We may argue about business issues, but at the end of the day it is “all hugs.” We relish in each other’s success and cheer each other on. We have watched each other’s children grow from infants to young adults, and see the next wave of the Firm repeating this cycle.

I think back fondly to the Firm which had my two daughters, each under 4 feet tall at the time, manning the outfield as we played our clients in softball. I juxtapose that with the image of a Firm today which takes cases in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as from coast to coast in the U.S.

Under the tutelage of Jason Copley, our managing partner, and Kathleen Garrity, our Executive Director, the Firm is poised to grow even more in coming years. Five years ago, I penned an article called “Twenty Years at a Glance.” I hope to check back with you five years from now to tell you where the Firm is. I can hardly wait.