The national law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has long been recognized as preeminent in representing and counseling lawyers. Now, the firm has significantly distinguished itself, expanding its team of national leaders in “The Law of Lawyering.”
Hinshaw recently added to its team in this area of practice prominent “lawyer’s lawyer” Anthony E. Davis. Based in New York City, Davis is recognized nationally for his work in counseling large law firms on risk management and professional responsibility issues. He joins an already existent all-star team of legal liability attorneys, led by the foremost expert in legal malpractice, Ronald Mallen. Mallen is author of the five-volume treatise published by West Publishing, "Legal Malpractice," 5th Ed.
“Anthony rounds out our practice group in a way that no other practice group in the country can compare,” said Mallen. “While other attorneys and practice groups can claim to do some of the pieces of our work, we are uniquely capable of practicing the ‘Law of Lawyering’ from A to Z.”
According to Mallen and Davis, the nature and scope of this one-of-a-kind practice encompasses the following:
Law firms "cradle to grave"
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP will handle a myriad of issues affecting firms, including law firm formation (i.e., partnership and business structure and documentation); compensation structure; partnership disputes; partnership mergers and lateral hiring arrangements; and law firm break ups and dissolutions.
Counseling and Advising Law Firms and Law Departments
These services include:
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Risk management services, including education programs, risk management audits, and developing policies, procedures, forms and manuals for improving law firm operations and profitability.
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Advising law firms as outside ethics counsel, including conflict of interest resolution and management, development and structure of ancillary businesses, marketing, advertising and solicitation of clients, supervision of lawyers and support staff, and multijurisdiction and multidiscipline practices.
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Representing firms and attorneys in responding to professional grievance and disciplinary complaints.
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Advising and representing lawyers and law firms in bar admission, including movement of lawyers among jurisdictions.
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Advising general counsel on improving management over disbursed in-house law departments, and establishing and maintaining effective control over outside counsel, including case and engagement oversight and billing control.
“Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has succeeded in pulling together all the necessary elements that can possibly qualify as parts to the "Law of Lawyering,” said Davis. “This should be considered a milestone in the legal community, as the firm has established the first comprehensive national practice group advising lawyers, large law firms, and law departments in the full range of professional counseling and the management of their practices.”
In addition to Mallen and Davis, Hinshaw's professional liability team includes Thomas P. McGarry (Chicago), a recognized leader in the area of representing lawyers and firms in liability defense and professional discipline and Chair of the firm’s Lawyers Professional Liability practice group; Thomas P. Sukowicz (Ft. Lauderdale), experienced in representing professionals and developing written and web based materials in the area of risk management for lawyers; and Thomas L. Browne (Chicago), who has extensive experience counseling lawyers and law firms.
Hinshaw has also developed extensive web-based resources for professional liability insurers and their lawyer clients in the area of risk management.
About Anthony E. Davis
Beginning his legal career as a barrister in his native England, Davis, now a U.S. citizen, first came to the U.S. to teach law in New York. Within a few years, he was dividing his time between teaching law and practicing it, and is now admitted to practice in Colorado, New York and as a solicitor (non-practicing) in England.
With his focus on the laws that govern lawyers, Davis advises attorneys and law firms on a range of issues, including law firm partnerships, business relationships, professional responsibility and legal ethics, as well as law firm practice and risk management. He is also a popular lecturer and panelist, drawing on his many years of teaching experience when speaking to bar associations and law firms throughout the U.S. on all aspects of the law of practicing law and practice management. Prior to joining Hinshaw & Culbertson, he was a partner at other prominent New York firms.
Davis advises a full spectrum of clients, ranging from individual attorneys to large law firms (including some of the 10 largest in the United States), on all matters involving the laws that govern lawyers. His work also includes counseling professional liability insurers for both domestic and international lawyers. He frequently appears as an expert witness. In addition, Davis has authored three books, including Risk Management: Survival Tools for Law Firms, and The Essential Formbook: Comprehensive Practice Management Tools for Lawyers, both published by the American Bar Association, and dozens of articles. He is also a lecturer to lawyers throughout the United States.
Davis is the current President of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, Chair of the Committee on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar of the New York State Bar Association, a member of the Committee on Legal and Judicial Ethics of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management, and a member of the American Law Institute. He received his first law degree (B.A. and M.A.) from Cambridge University and his LL.M. from New York University School of Law.
Hinshaw's professional liability group is a leading defender of legal malpractice litigation throughout the United States. In addition to civil defense litigation, the firm is a national leader in advising lawyers in private and in-house practices or malpractice avoidance, particularly in connection with questions of loss prevention and legal ethics. This group also routinely represents attorneys before State's disciplinary commissions in matters ranging from the trial or disbarment proceedings, to responding to ethics investigations. This group is also renowned for its contributions in the areas of published writing and public speaking.
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP is a national law firm with 475 lawyers in 25 offices coast-to-coast. The firm offers a full-service practice, with an emphasis in commercial and defense litigation, corporate, environmental, employment and construction law, as well as the representation of professionals in their liability matters. The firm provides services to a range of clients in financial services, construction, health care, not-for-profit, insurance, legal, manufacturing, real estate, transportation and other industries. Firm clients also include government agencies, municipalities and schools.
Hinshaw was founded in 1934. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, and maintains offices in 12 states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.