2 min read December 2022 — Cranfill Sumner LLP provides the Triangle with corporate and personal legal services. Invest: spoke to Managing Partner Marshall Wall about the regional legal market, the firm’s initiatives for finding and retaining qualified staff and his forecasts for the growth and development of the Triangle.
How have you watched the legal sector in the Triangle evolve over the past couple of years?
It used to be that most of the firms here were local, maybe regional. Raleigh has become a market where larger national firms have put down roots in recent years. We think that our firm, given its history and the depth and breadth of our experience, is well positioned to represent clients in this market. Dealing with litigation or disputed matters is a lot of what we do. We have vast experience working in the court system in North Carolina, both State and federal, so we can offer clients good advice. We put our stamp on things and try hard to keep up our reputation in the area.
The Raleigh-Durham region has grown exponentially in the last decade. How has that affected your business?
As the region has grown, it’s no surprise that we’ve had a lot of economic development success. With that comes a lot of good things but it also results in lots of legal needs. In particular, the Triangle has become a hub for technology and other areas that support the technology industry. We’ve seen growth for our firm with the growth of the Triangle. Our firm does a lot of employment work, so in representing employers in that arena we deal with everything that comes with it. The more companies and the more employees they have, the more legal issues that arise and the more opportunity we have to help folks navigate those waters. We deal with those issues all the time. The legal market is not one that changes course quickly. Lawyers are driven by history and precedent, so it’s not always easy to get lawyers to change their ways. I think we have tried and succeeded in adapting to the new legal world.
What would an economic slowdown mean for your firm and what does the strategy look like for the next couple of years?
We try to find the most effective and efficient solution to legal issues, not just what’s best for the firm. That tends to put us in a good spot when the economy may be shaky. We do see that certain areas of law become busier in times of economic turmoil – bankruptcy and certain types of litigation like in the construction sector, for example. When things are going well, contractors tend not to get involved in litigation with each other. When the economy turns sour, they are more likely to litigate against each other and have more disputes. We find with employment law, if a company is having layoffs or difficult times economically, they are more likely to see various kinds of issues such as Title VII claims through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or Department of Labor issues related to pay. These things don’t come up as much if things are going well and everybody’s happy. We can anticipate that some of those areas will see more disputes and issues if we are headed for a recession.
Internally, what have hiring and retention looked like at the firm?
The legal market has been tight and challenging for a while, like many other industries. Our firm has a good history of recruiting from local law schools. We have participated in the Minorities in the Profession program for a number of years, in which we commit every year to having a summer associate through that program. It’s been a good way for us to get talent here and hopefully sell the firm and have them come back once they’ve finished law school. We have folks in the firm now who came to us through that route. We have also tried to stick with a flexible working environment, so we do not have strict rules about in-office work for anyone, even our newer attorneys. I think it is an attractive model and we have found it works very well. As long as people are getting their work done, we don’t care if they’re sitting in the office or not. There are advantages to being in the office, in terms of team-building and culture, but we’ve worked to make that happen without strict in-office requirements. That’s been one of the things we have done to try to retain and bring in new talent. We have also had good success adding lateral attorneys in various practice areas. We’re always looking for individual attorneys or groups who may be a good fit, and the firm provides a strong platform for entrepreneurial lawyers.
When you think about the next five to 10 years, especially in the Triangle, how do you see technology playing a role in the way that the legal profession is carried out?
I do think we will continue to see people working remotely. Part of that is that we may have attorneys living here but working in New York or other large cities. We may also have people working for firms in Raleigh but living somewhere else. We have a little bit of that in our firm. Some of the larger firms will have more of a presence here because of remote work. The court system has done a good job of adapting to having remote hearings, which we didn’t have much of three years ago. We are doing more depositions and hearings remotely and that is only going to continue. We won’t see things go backward in that regard. The use of AI will increase and will drive more efficiency in the legal world.
What areas of your practice do you see changing?
The data privacy world is always changing, nationally and at the state level. That is an area where there will be significant change. Maybe Washington will pass a national privacy bill one day. That has not happened. Right now, there are statutes and regulations in every state and from various federal agencies that affect that area. That is where we are keeping our eyes open, so that we can advise clients on where things may be headed and the impact of changes. It’s an exciting area with constant change.
What are your priorities going forward?
We are very well positioned to grow. We are constantly looking for new legal talent. You have to have good people doing the work to keep clients happy. The opportunities are out there for growth, if we have the right people in place.
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