Andrew Morris started work at Carr Maloney yesterday morning, the D.C.-based firm announced, after spending the past 15 years at Mayer Brown. Offering up a newly common explanation, he says the move will allow him to get away from the high-priced payment structures of a big law firm.
He adds that he wanted to join a firm that was more Washington-centric than most larger firms in the area. Carr Maloney has 24 lawyers in the region; Mayer Brown has about 1,000 lawyers nationwide. Mayer Brown announced earlier today that the firm would be laying off 45 lawyers and 90 administrative staff members across the United States.
Morris, who joins as a partner, focuses his practice on commercial litigation and government investigations. Morris would not comment on specific clients he represents, but he says he will bring some of them with him to Carr Maloney.
"Big firms are great, and there are certain things only they can do," Morris says. "But I wanted to do the same interesting and useful work as I had been doing, only with more flexibility. That flexibility comes in that we're not charging the rates that big firms are charging."
Morris says the decision to make the move to a smaller firm was something that he has been considering for a while now. "It was not an easy decision for me," Morris says. "I think the world of Mayer Brown, and I have a lot of great friends there, and I hope to continue to work with the firm in the future. It was really about doing more of the lawyering aspect of the law than the business aspect of the law."
Well this is interesting...because said attorney told a paralegal at Mayer Brown DC that he "...couldn't take any more." Perhaps he knew what was coming and is still to come re Mayer Brown layoffs?????
Posted by: Mary Hurley | April 03, 2009 at 04:24 PM