News & Events

Firm Partners Bradford P. Lyerla and Jeffrey S. Sharp were interviewed for the feature article about midsize law firms in the May issue of Chicago Lawyer.  The article entitled, “The Right Fit,” discusses the appeal and benefits of midsize law firms.

Mr. Sharp said lawyers and clients like being associated with Marshall, Gerstein & Borun because of its singular focus.  “We work leanly and intelligently, paying attention to what clients needs are - not what the needs are of the organization,” he said. “It is not a huge pyramid with someone pitching the work and somebody doing the work. The people who present to [the client] are the people who do the work. That can be different from what you see in a much, much larger firm.”

Mr. Lyerla said clients like working with him and his colleagues because they can tell they enjoy doing the work. Clients come to the firm with sophisticated problems, and the lawyers know how to solve those problems, he said.  “Because we are a boutique with a narrow focus we can be both midsize and enormously sophisticated,” he said. “We have all the resources that anyone could possibly have in our field. It is just wonderful. I think that I have a practice that’s equal to the practice that many lawyers enjoy at huge law firms - the same caliber of clients, in fact some of the same clients that also use big law firms; and the same kinds of lawsuits, but I’m able to do them at this law firm in a way where I can emphasize the joy where they have to emphasize the money. Never trade money for happiness. I actually believe that the quality over a long period of time can suffer when you are just doing it for the money.”

A copy of the article can be found below.