The ATL Interrogatories: 10 Questions with Richard J. Morvillo from Morvillo LLP

Richard J. Morvillo, co-founder of Morvillo LLP, answers ten questions for the ATL Interrogatories, sponsored by Lateral Link.

Ed. note: This is the latest installment of The ATL Interrogatories, brought to you by Lateral Link. This recurring feature will give notable law firm partners an opportunity to share insights and experiences about the legal profession and careers in law, as well as about their firms and themselves.

Richard J. Morvillo, co-founder of Morvillo LLP, is a nationally-recognized expert in SEC enforcement matters. Over the past 35 years, he has been involved in over 200 SEC investigations, including some of the highest profile cases the SEC has handled. Rich was recently named by Best Lawyers in America as the “2013 Lawyer of the Year – Securities Litigation,” and Chambers USA has recognized Rich as “one of the deans of the securities enforcement bar.” He has served on the adjunct faculty of Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a course in “Professional Responsibility in Corporate and Securities Practice.” See his complete bio here.

1. What is the greatest challenge to the legal industry over the next 5 years?

The demand for outside legal services has been shrinking over the past several years and is not, in my judgment, likely to return any time soon to the levels we saw just a few years before that. At the same time, there is no shortage of qualified lawyers competing for high-end business and trying to maintain levels of profitability to which they have become accustomed. Clients have also become more sophisticated consumers and have discovered the power they have to rein in firms in terms of staffing and costs. I expect more pressure from clients in demanding discounts and innovative fee structures. So, at bottom, I think the challenge for law firms, big and small, is to deliver first-rate service at a fair price in an extraordinarily competitive environment.

2. What has been the biggest positive change to the legal profession since the start of your career?

Technology has been a blessing and a curse but, when used properly, it can make attorneys more efficient and better-equipped to handle legal problems. While specialization also has its drawbacks, the trend toward lawyers focusing on particular substantive areas and keeping abreast of developments in their respective areas enables the profession to better serve clients’ specific needs.

Sponsored

3. What has been the biggest negative change to the legal profession since the start of your career?

Simple. The profession has morphed into a competitive business where quality is not valued as much as other things, like price and profitability. I did not go to law school to become a salesperson.

4. What is the greatest satisfaction of practicing law?

Analyzing a complex situation that creates real risk for the client and coming up with an innovative solution to fix or, at least, minimize the problem. We are still a service industry, and helping clients is still the name of the game. Doing it well provides a level of satisfaction that cannot be understated.

5. What is the greatest frustration of practicing law?

Sponsored

It is related to number three. Even those of us who love the practice and think we excel at providing the best advice possible need to devote increasing amounts of time to business development and often are evaluated, especially in larger firms, by factors that put great emphasis on bringing in work and laboring through increasingly long hours. The emphasis on those issues, in turn, can create an undercurrent of internal competition among lawyers that detracts from the benefits of working in the most collegial environment.

6. What is your firm’s greatest strength?

As former government lawyers with big firm experience and the judgment that comes from both, we each provide clients with personal attention and expert advice in the most complex and risk-laden areas, at a price that larger firms with larger infrastructures are less likely to offer. We also do it in a collaborative and collegial atmosphere.

7. What is the single most important personal characteristic for a successful lawyer in your field?

Integrity mixed with the judgment and the candlepower necessary to maintain it.

8. What is your favorite legally themed film or television show?

I don’t really like many of them. I get frustrated by the way they portray lawyers, the way in which they depict how legal advice is rendered and the way the legal process (e.g, evidence in court cases) is misdescribed. So, I would go with two serious dramas, Twelve Angry Men (affiliate link) and My Cousin Vinny (affiliate link).

9. What is your favorite legally themed book (fiction or non-fiction)?

To Kill A Mockingbird (affiliate link).

10. What would you have been if you weren’t a lawyer?

Is it too late to join a rock n’ roll band?


Lateral Link’s recruiters are on pace to place hundreds of attorneys throughout the world this year. We are currently involved in over three dozen active partner searches including opening the office of an Am Law 50 firm in a new location, the merger of an Am Law 10 firm with a foreign firm, finding practice chairs for several Am Law10 firms, and searches for groups of partners in at least ten different cities, including Atlanta, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Dallas, Denver, and Chicago, just to name a few. We are currently working with partner candidates with $500k to $35M in portable business. For more information, please call Michael Allen, Managing Principal at Lateral Link.

CRM Banner