When Post & Schell hired seven lawyers, it gave that firm an instant energy practice and reduced the ranks of another firm's Harrisburg office to two.
To Post & Schell Chief Executive Officer Brian M. Peters, the hires also underscored the merits of a business model that's unusual in the world of law - governing the company through a CEO rather than by committee.
Post and Schell adopted the CEO structure five years ago.
"It made sense to run our business more like a business," Peters said. That has made the firm more decisive and enabled a transformation of its operations in Central Pennsylvania, he said.
The latest move saw Post & Schell hire seven lawyers who previously worked in the Harrisburg office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.
Among them are Michael W. Gang and David B. MacGregor, two prominent energy lawyers. Three of the other lawyers also focus on energy, and two handle labor and employment law.
Howard Meyers, managing partner of the Philadelphia office of Morgan Lewis, said the energy attorneys decided to leave the firm because they saw a conflict between the interests of their clients and others the company was representing.
"This was driven in part by structural changes in the energy industry," Meyers said. With deregulation, companies that previously were monopolies are squaring off against new competitors, he said.
"It's the kind of issue that arises within large law firms from time to time, and it's unfortunate," Meyers said. "We have the highest regard for the lawyers. We wish them well in their new firm."
Morgan Lewis will keep its Harrisburg office, which has two lawyers left. It has not decided whether to add staff or move.
Post & Schell's hires are part of. a broader transformation in the firm's local operations, a process that began about two years ago. In that period, the company's capital-area office has grown from about six lawyers to 17.
The firm decided to devote the office to matters of state government and regulation, although it has no plans to engage in direct lobbying.
"We were not taking advantage of our location in Harrisburg," Peters said.
In fact, Post & Schell moved from a Camp Hill address to downtown Harrisburg and sent to its Lancaster County office seven lawyers who were not focused on government.
Peters said those kinds of moves were much easier under the company's streamlined structure, common in the corporate world but unusual in law. That structure includes a chief operating officer, a comptroller and a corporate compliance officer who audits attorneys' work to make sure it meets the firm's standards.
In May, when the Business journal ranked the top 25 law firms, only Stevens & Lee identified its top officer, Joseph M. Harenza, as a CEO.
Most law firms use a committee or town-hall governing structure, said Randy Lee, professor of law with Widener University School of Law. In that system, each partner in the firm has an equal say in decisions on salaries, expansion and opening new practices. At Post & Schell, partners function as a board of directors, but day-to-day decisions are left with the executives.
"As long as there have been law firms, there probably have been debates within partnerships about whether they need more centralized decision-making or less," Lee said.
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