Law firms tie knot, target quality service

Boutique law firms Borrello Legal and Graham & Associates have joined forces, with principal partner Mark Borrello saying the merger would provide a solid platform to establish the company as a leader in property, commercial law, and dispute resolution.

Mr Borrello said Borrello Legal had achieved 85 per cent year-on-year revenue growth for the past five years, while Graham & Associates had also grown quickly in the 12 months since it was established.

He said the merged entity would retain the focus on client benefits exhibited by both firms, with the companies employing an alternative structure to the larger national and international players.

“Combining the two firms does a couple of things,” Mr Borrello said.

“One, it brings together two synergistic practices and very similar cultures and mindsets in how a law firm should be operated.

“But the biggest thing is it creates a platform to continue what we were doing individually in terms of growth.

“There are some significant benefits operationally, and purely from a client benefit perspective, in terms of being more rounded in what services we provide.”

The newly formed Borrello Graham Lawyers will be the 40th-largest law firm in Western Australia, according to the BNiQ Book of Lists, with 21 full-time staff and three partners – Mr Borello, James Graham and Joe Lazzara. 

Borrello Graham will have four special counsel, two senior consultants, three senior associates and three lawyers.

“Essentially how the model works is it flips on its head a traditional legal model, which is essentially a pyramid structure, where you basically have the head honcho sitting on the top and they have a team working under them,” Mr Borrello told Business News.

“Our model is essentially a very horizontally integrated structure. We’ve got partners, special counsel and senior associates that well outnumber our juniors.”

Mr Borrello said that structure would provide significant efficiencies in service delivery and cost savings for clients.

“Also, from a quality perspective, you’ve got one or two sets of senior eyes that are working on a matter from day one until the end, and the benefit of that is they are intrinsically involved in the matter,” he said. “Our clients have told us that’s the model they want, and we’ve had our eyes open to that.

“We’re fairly flexible in the way we can create it and model it, so ultimately they are the winners in how we structure it.

“But from our perspective it works because we can retain our clients and truly partner with them better.”