Law firm Blank Rome has deep Philly roots and a national future

Grant S. Palmer is the new chairman of Blank Rome, 1 of the national corporate regulation firms primarily based in Philadelphia. Earlier head of the litigation unit, he grew to become running associate in 2019, and succeeded Alan J. Hofmann as chairman Jan. 1.

Palmer, 59, agreed to talk about how his company has developed and how the follow of regulation has modified due to the fact he graduated from the College of Pennsylvania legislation university in 1989. He and his spouse lifted their three small children in Philadelphia and its suburbs. The job interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Penn Central railroad [and its epic 1970 bankruptcy] set us on the map. And we represented almost all of the Philadelphia banks [before they were sold in the 1980s and 1990s].

Beneath David F. Girard-diCarlo, who joined the board of PNC [in 1995 when it absorbed a pair of Philly-area banks], we transitioned the economical establishments practice into a national apply, a person of our core tactics. [PNC, based in Pittsburgh, is now the fifth-largest U.S. bank.]

All the main U.S. banking companies are now our clientele. And quite a few of the big insurers. Our economic companies, restructuring and bankruptcy follow is now as substantial as the complete business was when I joined — 80 attorneys. We have been very intentional in our advancement.

We started in Philadelphia in 1946. [Almost one-third] of the senior management and apply leaders are primarily based in Philadelphia, and a great deal of the administration. We are very pleased of our Philadelphia roots. We have been in this office environment [One Logan Square, 130 N. 18th St.] since 2000, and we just took another 16-calendar year lease.

But we are heading to minimize the space. Right now we are on floors 3 by 11. We will give up at the very least a few flooring, from the base.

As a organization that is developing nationally, our amount-one particular growth put is in New York Town, and New York will shortly, almost certainly, be our most significant office. We have 343 partners as of right now and 664 in all. About 200 of individuals legal professionals are in Philadelphia, possibly 175 are currently in New York.

We have other spots. [BlankRome has offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and nine other U.S. cities, plus Philadelphia and Shanghai.]

Variety has been important to us from the start off. The men who established the organization couldn’t get a task at any other regulation company in Philadelphia they were being Jewish. They centered at first on authentic estate and company exercise. They figured that following Globe War II there would be an explosion of litigation. They have been ideal.

Again then we did not established our hourly prices. The Philadelphia Bar Association set a plan, and the firm adhered to that. The job has improved: We now improve premiums every 12 months. It is a single of the motorists of our organization — to figure out the financial product.

My father was a banker and businessman in York. He owned a store downtown, Palmer’s on the Square. I went to Penn Regulation. I graduated in 1989, obtained a federal clerkship, and arrived again to Blank Rome in 1990. Our revenues ended up less than $50 million. We now do that in a month. Of class, there’s been inflation.

Mike Margolis, who heads that business, joined us in Los Angeles. He moved to Shanghai and turned the leader.

Quite a few of our customers there do small business topic to U.S. law. For instance, we are assisting firms from all over the place negotiate the U.S. anti-terrorism laws and the lawsuits [alleging companies’] steps could have led to terrorist acts.

That is not just in China. When Chiquita was accused of spending off guerrillas [in Colombia] to get their bananas transported, we represented them.

Our strategic program is to build our national platform in the United States. We have a maritime exercise, almost certainly a single of the leaders in the country. We added a few of the most elite maritime corporations in the country, in New York, Houston, and D.C.

Morgan Lewis, Blank Rome, Dechert, Duane Morris, Cozen O’Connor are all companies started in Philadelphia that have developed organically by incorporating legal professionals independently and in tiny teams. We have brought in 75 lateral associates considering the fact that I turned handling lover in 2019. Which is a great deal of people.

Our greatest mergers were being Tenzer Greenblatt, 80 lawyers in New York in 2000, and 100 lawyers from the Dickstein Shapiro business in Washington, D.C., in 2016.

Some other substantial firms have utilized a different tactic. Ballard Spahr, Drinker Biddle, Pepper, have every had mergers with other massive firms [with hundreds of lawyers each] to maximize their footprints.

The most crucial detail to me is holding onto what we consider is a extremely distinctive, limited-knit tradition, now that we are over 600 legal professionals.

It was a lot simpler when we had been smaller, and everybody was in the business five days a 7 days. Now we have firm-extensive city halls just about every thirty day period. … We just obtained again to owning a retreat — in Miami at the Intercontinental Lodge in late October. The power of men and women!

We experienced a variety summit. [The late] Sixth Circuit Judge Nathaniel A. Jones, a countrywide civil-legal rights figure and basic counsel to the NAACP, was our 1st range and inclusion officer. We have our Women’s Management Summits a target has been to generate an environment that enabled females to leverage relationships with consumers, to be in charge of interactions, so they can be compensated for it.

We have very low attrition. We say that nobody at any time remaining this agency as a result of believing they had been not compensated rather.

In contrast to a ton of top rated companies, when we compete for litigation or a merger, we workers issues far more lean. We could have a big lover as opposed to a group of 6 persons. It provides our folks substantive duty, much more expertise.

I spent 18 yrs as the chair of the pro bono committee for Blank Rome. We were one of the initially corporations to have a total-time pro bono director in 2002. In 2014, we expected each legal professional to lead at least 25 hrs. Two several years in the past for our 75th anniversary, we suggested 75 several hours.

It has reworked the legislation business in quite a few techniques. We are all blessed. We make a ton of cash. So we see the big difference we can make in communities.

It has not been an situation. We stick to the American Bar Affiliation suggestions: Pro bono signifies doing legal do the job for someone who could not manage it.

Gun legal rights is an challenge. We have represented the Brady Middle to Protect against Gun Violence. We have been rather out front with troubles that arose in the course of the pandemic with regard to racial injustice. It is not everyone’s choice but there have not been many objections.

Philadelphia has professional a little bit of a renaissance in recent many years. There is much more existence sciences and tech coming into Philly. It is a trickle, but it’s a start.

Taxes are an challenge they have been for a very long time. I moved to Philadelphia for law school in 1986. I think this is a considerably much better city and has way more to provide, from places to eat to gatherings, than when I came here. We are heading in the ideal course.