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Youthful, Lean Donovan Hatem Law Firm Grows

Boston Business Journal
June, 2002

As Burns & Levinson LLP parades its makeover following last year's departure of 43 lawyers who formed Donovan Hatem LLP, Donovan Hatem lawyers are touting their firm's growth.

Since the split in January 2001, Donovan Hatem has expanded to a 56-lawyer shop and moved into the World Trade Center last month.

Chairman David Hatem said the firm plans to expand to 60 or 70 lawyers by the end of the year. Its 33,000 square feet of office space can accommodate up to 72 lawyers, Hatem added.

"We're in discussions with transactional lawyers around the city," Hatem said.

But why would a litigation firm look to strengthen its ranks of transactional attorneys at a time when a dearth of transactional work -- including mergers, acquisitions, securities offerings and other deals -- is forcing other firms to make layoffs?

Hatem said the firm's architectural and engineering clients, including some working on the Central Artery project and New York City's Second Avenue Subway project, want a broad range of legal services.

"We view our competitive advantage as providing services to a specialized subset — architects and engineers," Hatem said.

Yet, Donovan Hatem is perhaps best known for its insurance defense work — and its web site still claims its "tort and insurance practice is among the largest and most renowned litigation practices in New England." The site also describes the firm as a "full-service law firm serving clients locally, regionally and nationwide."

Every firm needs to define its client base whether or not it operates as a niche firm, said Jim Cotterman, principal of Newtown Square, Pa.-based legal consulting firm Altman Weil Inc.

"It can be by (targeting an) industry, size of market or creating a practice-specific firm," Cotterman said. "Or it could be a bundle of services oriented toward a particular type of client."

Along with a clear vision of its ideal client base, Donovan Hatem also prides itself on a youthful and energetic atmosphere where the average age of firm employees is under 40, according to partner Kevin Kenneally.

To help portray a youthful look, the firm salvaged some modern lighting fixtures from the previous occupant of the space, Internet company Breakaway Solutions Inc.

And the firm is also keeping costs low by keeping the square-feet-per-lawyer ratio down, Hatem said, noting that Burns & Levinson has 70 lawyers and 85,000 square feet.

(Burns & Levinson actually only occupies 57,000 of its 85,000 square feet, said executive director Paul Morton. It plans to sublease the 21,000 square feet Donovan Hatem before it moved and 7,000 additional square feet, he said.)

SHERI QUALTERS covers advertising and public relations, law, utilities and higher education for the Boston Business Journal. She can be reached by e-mail at SQualters@bizjournals.com.

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