I just interviewed the 1,000th guest at Fried On Business, and I could not have had a better conversation.
My chat with Cesar L. Alvarez, Shareholder and Co-Chairman at Greenberg Traurig LLP, was entertaining and inspiring at the same time.
This is a man who took the firm from 325 lawyers in 1997 to some 1,850 attorneys and government professionals in more than 36 locations in the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America, including strategic alliances in Milan and Rome, Italy.
A remarkable feat. But I had to ask how he was able to accomplish such an enormous expansion and yet maintain the quality and culture of the firm?
“We got there because we were too dumb to listen to good advice,” he said. “The truth of the matter is that everybody told us that we could not do what we did.
“It only shows you that with drive and tenacity and overcoming things that are sometimes very difficult to overcome – that’s how you succeed.”
Greenberg Traurig LLP has a strong reputation in South Florida as a problem-solving firm. The word “effectiveness” would capture the idea, and it’s used prominently on their website.
How then, I asked, do you build the brand to cross not only state lines but international lines?
“The way you brand a law firm, at the end of the day, is by the key partners that are in the firm – their ability to have great practices. Those practices, when put together, are what really brand the firm,” Alvarez said.
“We make sure that our partners are business-oriented people. They’re problem solvers. They not the kind of lawyer that you’d rather not have talked to.”
As the firm was expanding, Alvarez said, a need for rapid client service was becoming clear. Situations were developing that required immediate attention, not days or weeks of research.
The only way to deliver that level of service was to have on board experts in every area – and that requires size.
But Alvarez said he was also concerned about keeping the best aspects of a small firm.
“The value that we wanted to add to the lawyers was a culture of empowerment,” he said.
“Most law firms, when they grow, they get very bureaucratic. They take the power away from the people on the ground. We said, ‘No. What we want to do is the opposite. We want to give those lawyers on the ground the power. That’s where the best decisions are made.'”
The goal, he said, was to avoid the weaknesses that seem to be inherent with small and large firms – and combine the strengths of each.
“We became the largest small firm in the world,” he said.
This was a great interview, and we covered many more topics including:
– Online syndication for real estate deals and startup businesses.
– The future of law firms, given the growing number of online legal services.
– A great story about Mel Greenberg, founder of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Cesar L. Alvarez of Greenberg Traurig LLP.
