David Versus Goliath

Springfield attorney Evelyn Gwin Mangan has seen both sides of the proverbial fence, working as an independent attorney for several years and spending time with some of the largest firms in the Ozarks.

This summer, Mangan chose to leave behind the large corporate setting of Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP, re-entering the fray as an independent practitioner through Evelyn Gwin Mangan PC. Husch Blackwell is the largest firm in Springfield, with 33 local attorneys, according to Springfield Business Journal list research.

Mangan, who also practiced at the now-closed Poole, Stevens and Wieland PC, said she enjoyed her time at both larger firms. She believes there’s a place for both small and large firms in the marketplace.

“I think it’s really a choice on the part of both the client and the attorney of being in a more structured environment or a less formal one,” she said.

Her clients are typically small-business owners and individuals, and she believes the small-office setting is most conducive to those relationships.

“My clients tend to want a personal relationship, and while we professionally talk about the narrowly focused business issues, it is also a personal relationship, asking about each other’s families and talking about vacations,” she said.

Matters of size
Mangan acknowledges that there are some perks to working with larger firms, namely fewer budget constraints for the clients who use them, plenty of work and engaging challenges.

Then, too, there’s the support system that comes from being part of a larger outfit.

“It was wonderful having a large support staff and attorneys who could help,” she said.

Having that larger-firm infrastructure in place is probably the No. 1 benefit for attorneys – and some clients, said Crista Hogan, executive director of the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association.

“As a sole practitioner or small firm, you’re really limited in the staffing issue,” Hogan said, while at larger firms, “the technology, systems, staff, facilities are all ready to go when an attorney walks in the door. All the attorney really has to focus on is practicing law.”

For attorney Kevin Austin, moving out of the big-firm realm to a smaller operation came with a surprising cultural shift. Austin, a partner at Keck & Austin LLC, got his start with Lowther Johnson – the fourth-largest law firm in Springfield with 17 attorneys, according to SBJ research. He moved to Husch Blackwell before joining attorney Pat Keck’s practice five years ago.

“I knew what I was headed for in running the business side of it, but it was still a shock,” he said. “I found that it made me more self-reliant and more disciplined, because I have to do things for myself.”

Austin said he still works just as hard as before, but being part of a small firm allows him the flexibility to set his own hours, work from home in the evenings or take time off in the afternoons for his children’s school activities.

Austin said he still tracks his billable hours out of habit, something many attorneys in small firms don’t do.

Billable hours, however, shouldn’t be a deterrent for attorneys who want to join larger firms, said Gary Powell, a partner with Husch Blackwell Sanders.

“I think there are big misconceptions about large firms,” he said. “If an attorney needs client development time … they will get it. Not all hours are billable hours.”

Hogan said technology also has helped attorneys in larger firms strike a better balance between home and work.

“There’s been a huge shift in attitude, especially in the past decade (that) an attorney can get their work done, but they don’t necessarily want to make it their entire life anymore,” she said. “There’s been a change in the culture.”

Still, there are some downsides to being part of a larger firm, and one of those, Powell said, is not being able to make quick decisions about taking on clients.

“The large number of clients in a large firm opens up the possibility of more conflict situations,” he said. “Since we can’t represent both parties in any matter, we always have to run a check to make sure there’s no conflict.”  

Client perspectives
For clients, access to broad expertise can be a plus, SMBA’s Hogan said.

“If you have an attorney that is a real estate lawyer in a large firm, but you have a question about patent law, your attorney has access to specialists and subspecialists within their own firm and can still find the answer for you,” she said.

Powell, who was with the smaller Farrington & Curtis before it merged with the firm that ultimately became Husch Blackwell Sanders, said those vast human resources are what makes a large firm so attractive to many.

He pointed out that clients usually choose their attorneys based on those individual relationships.

“It’s been my experience that most people hire the lawyer, not the firm, and I think that’s especially true in Springfield,” he said. “The relationship is very important.”

Terry Heinz, a client of Mangan for more than a decade, agreed. Owner of Falcon Steel Inc. in Springfield and Osage Services Inc. in Webb City, Heinz started working with Mangan when she was with a small firm and has stuck with her as she moved through the years.

“She knows a lot about my businesses, and the more an attorney knows about the business, the more they are able to do for you,” he said. “I’m sure if I would have found her with a larger firm first, I would have also followed her. It’s the relationship and the interest she’s taken in my business, not the firm she’s with.”[[In-content Ad]]