Nexsen Pruet's Leighton Lord Discusses Firm Innovation
Leighton Lord, Chairman of the Board for Nexsen Pruet, was recently featured in Law.com's The Mid-Market Report in 'Clients Are Demanding Innovation', Nexsen Pruet MP Says , a Q&A overviewing Nexsen Pruet's focus on innovation.
Article Excerpt:
What do you view as the two biggest opportunities for your firm, and what are the two biggest threats?
Our biggest opportunity is with middle market clients attracted to the fact that we offer a high level of competency and expertise but at a lower price point due to our overhead and salary structure. In addition, because we are not highly leveraged, we are able to provide better partner level client interaction allowing us to provide a service component that nicely correlates with the value proposition.
Our two biggest threats are smaller firms that are trying to capture certain work that is highly price sensitive and larger firms that can offer specialised practices or geography that we do not offer.
There is much debate around how law firms can foster the next generation of legal talent. What advantages and disadvantages do mid size firms have in attracting and retaining young lawyers, particularly millennials?
The major advantage that we have at attracting young lawyers is that we can add flexibility to how they practice and where they practice. In addition, I see that a lot of younger lawyers truly crave value from what they do and not just compensation. I am a strong believer that practicing law at a mid-market firm is much more interesting in general and particularly for the first 10 years of practice. We provide a great deal more client contact and lawyers are allowed to particulate in all parts of a case or a deal at an early stage in their career. In addition, we have a great deal of very interesting work. We have interesting work that is not so massive that it has to be broken up into boring parts.
Leighton Lord practices in the areas of economic development, corporate, partnership and real estate law. His legal practice has a special emphasis on economic development and real estate financing, commercial leasing and state land sale registrations. Mr. Lord is the Chairman of Nexsen Pruet and leads the firm's wholly-owned subsidiary NP Strategy.
Nexsen Pruet is an AM Law 200 Firm with more than 200 professionals in eight offices providing regional capabilities with international strengths.
About Maynard Nexsen
Maynard Nexsen is a full-service law firm with more than 550 attorneys in 24 offices from coast to coast across the United States. Maynard Nexsen formed in 2023 when two successful, client-centered firms combined to form a powerful national team. Maynard Nexsen’s list of clients spans a wide range of industry sectors and includes both public and private companies.
