 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||
|
Bar News - September 23, 2005 Claremont Advocate Andru Volinsky Focuses on Practice Building By: Dan Wise
In March 2004, he joined the Portland, Maine law firm of Bernstein Shur, Sawyer and Nelson, an 80-lawyer regional firm with offices in Portland, Augusta and Manchester. Volinsky, who previously had been a partner in a six-lawyer firm with Robert Stein and Peter Callahan, said his decision to join a regional law firm was dictated by his desire to do more complex litigation requiring the resources of a larger firm. Volinsky is not alone in his decision – over the past few years, an increasing number of out-of-state law firms has attracted NH legal talent — and NH clients — by opening offices or acquiring law firms in New Hampshire. Today, according to the list of the largest private law firms published by the NH Business Review (2005 edition), three of the top 25 law firms (ranked by number of attorneys in the state) are based out of state: Nixon Peabody, with its home office in Rochester, NY, has 16 attorneys in its Manchester office, with more than 600 attorneys and 15 offices coast to coast; Pierce Atwood, headquartered in Portland, ME, has 120 attorneys in four locations in the Northeast, with one attorney in its Concord office and 16 in Portsmouth; and Preti Flaherty Beliveau Pachios & Haley LLP, of Portland has 9 attorneys in its Concord office, which is one of five locations, including Boston. Another entrant to the state is Hinckley, Allen & Snyder, with more than 100 lawyers and offices in Providence, and Boston and 9 attorneys in Concord. Bernstein Shur has five NH lawyers on board and Volinsky is looking for more. Volinsky said he is happy with his decision to join forces with a large firm. Although he is spending considerable time and energy on establishing and growing the firm, he said big-firm support frees him from mundane concerns, such as what to do when his computer crashes—and it saves him from immersing himself in human resources issues that he now can shunt off to in-house technology or human resources experts in the firm. The use of technology brings the rest of the firm close at hand, without requiring significant travel. Volinsky said he only travels to Portland for law firm business once every six weeks or so. Volinsky said the resources of the larger firm enable him to take on high-stakes, complex cases. He cites the example of trade secrets litigation that, if a business loses the right to control its key ideas, can be “bet the farm” litigation. At the same time, he sought to be part of a firm with a strong social commitment and roots in the area, and one that wanted to benefit from his knowledge and experience in New Hampshire. Starting an office in New Hampshire for Bernstein Shur gives that firm a foothold in the local legal community and a better way to service the New Hampshire needs of in-state and out-of-state clients. “There’s no substitute for having been before a judge ten times in the past few years,” Volinsky said. “Too often the very large firms try to accomplish that by hiring local counsel to sign pleadings.” Volinsky said his firm requires that each attorney perform at least 75 hours of service work each year, a commitment that he found admirable and necessary, given his continuing role as an attorney in the Claremont Coalition. Whither Claremont? The original plaintiffs’ group in the series of lawsuits and NH Supreme Court rulings that invalidated the use of local property taxes as the primary funding mechanism for public education has been quiet in the latest round of challenges to the current funding formula. Volinsky said the group has changed tactics and is staying out of court for the time being. Relying on the courts ended up focusing public ire on the courts instead of on the faulty plans. Volinsky said the original group of property-poor towns that brought the suit to challenge the inequities in funding is not satisfied with the legislature’s solution. “Targeted aid,” Volinsky believes, “is doomed to fail.” “We have made an intentional decision to stay out of the courts for the time being,” he said. “Year after year, under various plans, funding was reduced. But by mounting facial challenges to the legislation, we weren’t letting people in other towns experience the impact of the reduced funding which caused their local property taxes to go up. “We would go to court to invalidate the plans before people even got their tax bills,” he explained. “But by stopping the plans, we were preventing all but a small group of people from understanding what was happening—that NH would not and could not fund state government on its current tax system.” Although the Claremont group is holding off on litigation, the plaintiffs continue to pursue their views through the creation of a political entity, the New Hampshire Citizens Voices Project. (www.nhcvp.org.) Two other groups currently are challenging the legislature’s latest solution to school funding. Volinsky, who said he spoke with both plaintiffs’ groups, said their challenges focus more on questioning the formulas for deciding who gets aid, rather than the fundamental principle of eliminating local funding as the main school-funding source. He points out that those lawsuits arise out of taxpayer anger with rising property taxes, which he now believes is going to be the ultimate motivator for change in the system. “I am an optimistic cynic,” Volinsky concluded. “The solution to school funding has to be a mix of judicial and political action.”
|
|
Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store New Hampshire Bar Association |
