The big bright electric sign that emblazoned the Lewis Brisbois name across its Los Angeles headquarters is gone, victim of a 2014 arson fire across the street that forced the firm's relocation to the nearby U.S. Bank Tower. "Our really big sign did not come with us," said Lewis, who founded the firm in 1971 and has grown it from seven lawyers to more than 1,100 lawyers in 40 offices in 26 states. These days, few need signage to find the largest firm in LA.
Lewis is proud of his firm's ability to have survived an office catastrophe that blew out more than 300 windows, inundated paperwork and infrastructure with drenching sprinkler flows and threatened to interrupt urgent litigation. "We were back up and running in 48 hours," he said. "We had four or five cases in trial, and we didn't miss a beat."
He's also gratified by the firm's slower evolution over decades from the plodding world of insurance defense to the sizzle of a full-service shop, a transition he nurtured by acquiring talent where he could find it. "We did some product liability work for IBM back when we started, and we still do, but around 1981 we began looking for young partners in other firms in areas we didn't work in, and we invited them in," he said. "We don't do criminal work or family law, but we do everything else. We're still building in certain areas."
A current big deal is its representation of CMB Export Infrastructure Investment Group 48 LP in connection with $450 million in financing for the redevelopment of Los Angeles' historic Plaza Hotel. "A prime example of our expansion into middle market construction, [mergers and acquisitions] and real estate," Lewis said.
Lewis said that a reason for leaving one of Los Angeles' oldest firms, Overton, Lyman & Prince LLP, where he was a young managing partner, to form Lewis Brisbois, was that as he watched Overton diversify it was unable to balance an existing insurance practice with its emerging business law ambitions. Lewis sought to create an atmosphere where all practice groups exist harmoniously. "We don't tolerate internal bickering," he said. "With 1,100 lawyers, I can't guarantee there's never a problem, but we get along very well." He has cultivated a culture of openness and collaboration that is encouraged and supported by the firm's revenue sharing policy, a key component of Lewis Brisbois' business model, he said.
This year, the firm added offices in Cleveland; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, North Carolina; Fort Wright, Kentucky; Weirton, West Virginia and Lawrenceburg, Indiana. The geographic expansion is driven by client demand, Lewis said.
"I'm still enjoying the work immensely," Lewis said. "The day I get up and don't want to go to work is the day I'll retire."
— John Roemer
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