CW-Nelson-Mullins-RFP-Response

APPENDIX B LAW FIRM TEST CASES

AM LAW 100 FIRM TEST CASE #1 FIRM #1 PAIN POINTS: From 2015 to 2017 firm experienced significant growth through one merger that added six (6) additional offices, and two (2) additional one-off mergers creating a portfolio of twenty (20) offices nationwide. High vacancy rates throughout the old and new portfolio were impacting the firm’s profits. With ninety percent (90%) of the firm’s leases rolling (by square footage) in the next five (5) years, the firm had an ideal opportunity to “right-size” their portfolio and shed vacant space as well as create new workplace standards throughout the portfolio. The hurdle this firm had to address was gaining attorney buy-in so leadership could implement such changes and create a standardized real estate portfolio that better supported their business and profits, recruiting and retention, and overall improved client services and operations. C&W’S SOLUTION: The following were initial action items that built leadership consensus: • C&W-led Vision Session to clearly understand current issues and develop key metrics to educate their Executive Leadership and Managing Partners to better understand what their competition was doing and where the firm had strengths and weaknesses. • Created an educational presentation for the firm’s Executive Committee to benchmark the firm where they were today and where they could potentially get to (including financial targets and savings) that would place the firm in a more competitive position through an improved real estate portfolio. • Developed a customized associate survey with an eighty-six percent (86%) response rate from the firm’s associates. The survey focused on what the key drivers were for Associates in joining and staying at this firm. Since being retained by the firm in early 2018, three (3) of the offices in the portfolio are actively engaged in their given markets. In Miami, the first transaction of the portfolio, we had to gain senior partner consensus to relocate and design

to the firm’s new workplace standards of under 600 square feet per attorney as well as single size attorney offices for all. Miami was approved and it is anticipated that these new offices will set the standard for this firm and will be the foundation for their headquarter location in the coming years. In addition, a close evaluation of firm-wide services, which is currently included in the headquarter location, will be completed on both a qualitative and quantitative basis. FIRM WIDE SERVICES EVALUATION: C&W has assisted many firms across the US in the evaluation of whether firm-wide services should remain at headquarters or be located to a better and more cost effective real estate solution. Some of the firms we have assisted include Skadden Arps, Baker & Hostetler, Morgan Lewis, and Kilpatrick & Stockton to name a few. Some firms opted to keep the operations in the headquarter location, while others chose to relocate. We are seasoned in reviewing the demographics, labor pool, real estate opportunities, and overall issues in deciding the best solution for office operations that will support a firm yet also be the most cost effective. In some cases firms have kept the space within the building (sometimes on a lower floor) and in others across the street or totally outside the market. 6

New Offices

2 One-Off Mergers

20 Offices Nationwide

Legal Sector Advisory Group | ADVISING FOR EXCELLENCE 57