FisherBroyles LLP, the first and world’s largest distributed law firm partnership, welcomes Karen Michail Shah, Ken Krug, and John Opgenorth to its Los Angeles office. The attorneys will practice for both the Financial Services & Lending and Real Estate groups. Ms. Michail Shah, Mr. Krug, and Mr. Opgenorth are joining the firm from Paul Hastings. They join a growing number of attorneys at the firm who have previously worked for Am Law 100 firms.
“We are very excited about this move,” said James M. Fisher II, FisherBroyles’ co-managing partner. “In addition to adding a group of world class attorneys to our real estate group, we believe this marks the first time a group has left an Am Law 50 law firm to join a non-traditional cloud-based firm. It’s another endorsement of our Law Firm 2.0® business model.”
The attorneys cite FisherBroyles unique business structure and work environment as a few of the reasons that they decided to join.
According to Ms. Michail Shah, making the move to FisherBroyles provided more flexibility to the way she can practice law.
“I was drawn to FisherBroyles’ innovative, entrepreneurial model that allows attorneys the flexibility to bill their clients in a manner that they deem appropriate instead of the manner their law firm dictates, as well as flexibility within their personal lives to work where and how they see fit,” says Ms. Michail Shah. “In an industry in which it is increasingly difficult to sustain a diverse workforce of people with different backgrounds and perspectives, FisherBroyles provides a framework that can help retain experienced attorneys that want to leave a traditional law firm environment but choose not to open their own practice.”
Mr. Opgenorth echoed Ms. Michail Shah’s sentiments, highlighting that he desired to have more autonomy with his practice.
“Our practice is our own business,” says Mr. Opgenorth. “Joining FisherBroyles gives us the flexibility to manage our practice in a way that meets the needs of our clients while also giving us control of our careers and future.”
For Mr. Krug, FisherBroyles provided a novel approach to business operations compared to the traditional big law firm model.
“I like the idea of having a big firm platform without the big firm rates and requirements as to hours and other non-flexible requirements,” says Mr. Krug. “Our practice generally involves fixed fee engagements and the fact that we can set our rates and other terms of engagements dovetails nicely with our clients’ expectations.”
Ms. Michail Shah focuses her practice on commercial lenders and institutional investors in multifamily affordable housing and mixed use developments. She is a University of California, Los Angeles School of Law graduate and also holds an MPH from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health.
Mr. Opgenorth represents banks and other institutional lenders and investors in real estate transactions. He is a University of Southern California Gould School of Law graduate and has been named to Super Lawyers Magazine’s list of Southern California Rising Stars on multiple occasions.
Mr. Krug centers his practice around debt and equity financing of multifamily housing. He is a University of Chicago Law School graduate.
Source: www.fisherbroyles.com
