alt.legal: Hanging Out The Alternative Women-Owned Shingle
This woman-owned boutique firm encapsulates so much about courageous lawyers executing their own vision of practice.
Jordan Louise Fischer (left) and Rebecca Rakoski (right), of XPAN Law Group.
We’ve branched out quite a bit on this column, but it’s our continuing mission to shed light on stories of ex-large-law-firm attorneys and what they are doing that’s different and interesting. XPAN Law Group is one example of a law firm that provides functional business advice and risk management with legal counsel to meet the real needs of small and mid-sized companies. I see several firms like this popping up, and it’s always inspiring to hear about attorneys who leave behind the security of salary for the exciting adventure of entrepreneurship.
My interview with Rebecca Rakoski and Jordan Fischer, founders of XPAN, encapsulates so much about the courageous lawyers across the country stepping out to try and change things through their own vision of practice. I hope you enjoy the interview.
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Ed Sohn: What’s your background? How did you two meet?
Rebecca Rakoski: After attending Delaware Law School, I clerked for the first sitting female judge in Burlington County, New Jersey, then spent the next 13 years at a large regional firm. I focused my practice in litigation — civil, criminal and even bankruptcy.
As a litigator, I found that I was constantly advising clients on issues of data privacy and cybersecurity as I was dealing with the electronic discovery portion of the litigation. I had the incredible good fortune —
serendipity, one could even say — to be assigned to an office next to another attorney who was finding that she was also in the same position — growing dissatisfied with the day-to-day grind of a litigation practice and yet totally invigorated and excited to deal with the technological aspects of discovery, privacy and security.
Jordan Fischer: I got my degree in international business and studied abroad in France numerous times. I went to Drexel Law School, and continued my international studies by working for an NGO in Geneva, Switzerland for an entire semester. Following law school, I completed a stagaire (i.e., short-term clerkship) for the now-President Judge Koen Lenaerts on the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU), where I got to collaborate with international lawyers and observe the CJEU in action.
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My practice focused on domestic litigation at the law firm but I stayed involved with the global side of law, teaching EU law at the Kline School of Law at Drexel University and seeking out opportunities to engage in a more global practice. Data privacy and cybersecurity naturally attracted me because of a greater emphasis on data protection in Europe. As Rebecca and I became more involved in the data-centric areas of litigation — discovery — I began to focus on cross-border data issues and the impact of divergent data regulations on both litigation and business practices. XPAN is the product of both of us being true to ourselves and the way in which we believe we can best serve our clients.
ES: Why and how did you start XPAN?
RR: When we started XPAN, it had less to do with starting a firm and more to do with wanting to change the way we practice law. We wanted to create an environment focused less on the billable hour and more on a flat-rate billing system that could help our clients get the results they want in a predictable (and budget-able) way.
We act as our clients’ cybersecurity and privacy counsel, quarterbacking their projects and working with their tech. It gives people a sense of security (pardon the pun!) that attorneys, not just technologists, are working on their problems to solve their business needs from a technological, legal, and business work-flow perspective.
Finally, we love what we do. We love the puzzle that is law and technology. It is an amazing field to be in right now and we are so grateful to be at the forefront.
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JF: Like Rebecca, I was frustrated with the law firm model. I was labeled as a “millennial,” and not in a good way. The problem was not that I didn’t like the work (I did!), I just wanted to do it differently.
Also, having a business background, I wanted to explore the opportunity to provide legal services in a different model: to work with clients to create cost-effective solutions that fit within their business structure. I constantly tell Rebecca that I want a system that values expertise and efficiency. It creates an environment where we can achieve a better work-life balance and create better working relationships with our clients.
ES: What’s unique about the firm? How do you differentiate against the market?
RR: On top of being cybersecurity, data privacy and electronic discovery attorneys, we are also women in technology, which is like a rainbow — something that doesn’t happen very often and yet people love to stop and take a look.
Critically, as attorneys, we bring with us the attorney-client privilege, essential in situations where companies are dealing with security and privacy is essential. We work with tech, but we craft guidelines and policies that make sense for a business. As attorneys who understand the technology, we act as the universal translator between the client, the law, and the technology. And by forming strategic partnerships with other law firms, we can offer a diverse set of services that meet the client’s needs.
In addition, we also approach these issues from a global perspective, which is unique. We live in an international society with translucent borders, so it follows that our privacy and security must be looked at from a world view.
ES: Do you have affirmation from the market that this is what they want?
JF: Yes. We hear time and time again that clients want more predictable billing with personalized service. We offer one-on-one advice and problem solving. Just as you can’t take a pill to fix a broken bone, you can’t simply buy tech that instantly makes you “secure.” It is only where the tech intersects with the law and the individual business model that you can reduce your risk factors.
We also understand that we are a necessary business need, even if it’s not the most exciting one. No one wants to own, work for or acquire a company with leaking security and privacy issues.
ES: What is your outlook on cross-functional organizations doing this type of work? Do you foresee cross-functional organizations providing these services and blurring the lines between the practice of law and security/privacy compliance?
RR: Privacy and security issues are moving quickly, and the smartest lawyers will want to work with these companies to form strategic partnerships so that the clients get the best of both worlds. Cross-functional organizations have a place in providing some complimentary services.
But we don’t believe that those organizations can ever take the place of an attorney in the security and privacy fields. The attorney-client privilege we bring and the litigation perspective, both in terms of winning a dispute and avoiding one, are valuable resources that clients need.
What has surprised you the most about starting this?
JF: Honestly, how much fun this has been and how less stressed I am. There is definitely stress on given days, but it is more manageable than what you internalize working at a law firm. And this translates into benefits in our business partnership: Rebecca and I can be more creative in our ideas, communicate more freely, and be open to different opportunities. I have the mental capacity to explore and have fun with the law again, and that is what makes me get up in the morning (sometimes at 4 a.m. because that is when an idea strikes) and build towards our goals.
RR: What surprised me was how close the solo-small practice firms are. They are a very welcoming community and they are very interested in forming relationships and referring work back and forth. And while I am not surprised, it is worth mentioning how welcoming the other female practitioners have been. They are an incredibly supportive group. We attend a lot of WOL (Women-Owned Law) events in Philadelphia and the women in that group are amazing. They support each other, help each other, and promote each other. We are very lucky to have started our firm in that environment.
ES: What gave you the personal confidence to take this step?
JF: The combination of finding an enthusiastic, creative, and dedicated partner as well as a supportive family. Rebecca encourages me, she lets me run with these sometimes crazy ideas to see what happens. I am constantly encouraged by how well-matched Rebecca and I are. We had a great working relationship at our prior firm, but now, seeing the synergies and the way in which we work with each other continues to provide me with the confidence to keep going.
Rebecca and I are also very lucky because we both come from entrepreneurial families (although they would probably not label themselves as “entrepreneurs”). Remembering all the amazing examples of business owners I have in my own family and it gives me the courage that we can do anything we want.
RR: For me it was about finding the right partner and the right idea. We knew we had something and we knew we wanted to create a certain culture. I don’t think I would have made this leap without having an amazing partner at my side.
Also, I wanted to work by my own rules. Creating XPAN and taking this leap was the best way for me to move forward. I appreciate what working in a large law firm taught me, but I couldn’t have this type of law practice if I had stayed. I needed to “be the change” (inscribed on a bracelet that Jordan gave me our last day at the old firm), and XPAN is that change.
ES: Thanks. Best of luck in the future!
Ed Sohn is VP, Product Management and Partnerships, for Thomson Reuters Legal Managed Services. After more than five years as a Biglaw litigation associate, Ed spent two years in New Delhi, India, overseeing and innovating legal process outsourcing services in litigation. Ed now focuses on delivering new e-discovery solutions with technology managed services. You can contact Ed about ediscovery, legal managed services, expat living in India, theology, chess, ST:TNG, or the Chicago Bulls at [email protected] or via Twitter (@edsohn80). (The views expressed in his columns are his own and do not reflect those of his employer, Thomson Reuters.)
