Is this firm really acting like a "startup"? I'd say they're just acting "different".
* 100+ partners at $3million in revenue each? Not exactly bootstrapping (though it sounds like they used to).
* Working late hours? I highly doubt that's any different than any other group of business litigation lawyers.
* Agressive approach? Again, it seems as if they are known as more aggressive since they only do litigation.
* T-shirts, jeans, Starbucks in the office? Sure, that's a startup stereotype now.
I would argue that they're a highly focused firm that's a bit relaxed in their actual office environment, and a bit more collaborative than their peers. I don't think that's exactly acting like a start-up.
In many ways I find this article both interesting and scary.
The author suggests that Quinn Emmanuel are shaking up the legal practice, but their method seems like a corporate version of the ambulance chasers methodology.
A no win, no fee approach seems to make law both more accessible and less accessible at the same time. The problem is it moves the availability of lawyers from something based on need and cost, to something based on chances of winning. Winning a case doesn't necessarily imply the moral imperative.
That said since they are doing solely corporate law this is less of an issue with me, and I'm very happy to see someone disrupting the legal profession.
Like YC's free legal documents for A-funding this kind of thing is probably a step in the right direction to make the law more accessible to smaller companies.
the only way they are acting like a startup is cultivating an aggressive, edgy, hip culture. better example is a law firm that IS a startup: axiom legal (http://www.axiomlaw.com). backed by benchmark (kagle) and panorama. and yes, they too cultivate the edgy and hip.
To me, a Law firm that has 3m revenue per employee sounds a lot like a symptom of a system that's broken.
A real startup, to quote PG, would be the law firm that turns this multi-billion dollar market (Im just guessing here...) into a multi-MILLION dollar market.
* 100+ partners at $3million in revenue each? Not exactly bootstrapping (though it sounds like they used to).
* Working late hours? I highly doubt that's any different than any other group of business litigation lawyers.
* Agressive approach? Again, it seems as if they are known as more aggressive since they only do litigation.
* T-shirts, jeans, Starbucks in the office? Sure, that's a startup stereotype now.
I would argue that they're a highly focused firm that's a bit relaxed in their actual office environment, and a bit more collaborative than their peers. I don't think that's exactly acting like a start-up.