Atlanta Health Boutique Launches Without 'Ego' In Mind, Law360 Pulse
The former legal chief of health system pharmacy Trellis Rx LLC has teamed up with three other attorneys to launch an Atlanta-based health care boutique aimed at taking the "ego" out of practicing law while offering clients more affordable rates through a team-based approach.
Laurice Rutledge Lambert, formerly general counsel and chief compliance officer at Trellis and co-founder of the new firm called Health Law Strategists LLC, told Law360 Pulse on Thursday that she wanted to use her in-house and private practice experience to build a law firm that truly works as a team.
The firm also consists of co-founder Kathlynn "Kathy" Butler Polvino, partner Jennifer P. Whitton and special counsel Roxana D. Tatman. Lambert said while the firm doesn't have a physical office to keep their costs down, she, Polvino and Whitton will work virtually from Atlanta while Tatman will work virtually from Albany, Georgia.
Lambert said she hopes the firm's model will retain and attract attorneys who will want to stay a long time with Health Law Strategists.
"The current law firm model, especially in larger firms, is challenging, because the hourly rate has gone up significantly, making it much more of a model for large, institutional clients that can pay those fees and as a result, it's increasingly harder for young attorneys to build up a book of business," Lambert said.
Lambert said their firm will offer attorneys a better chance at building a book of business.
"In the big firm model, if you do not have a big book of business, you do not have autonomy, freedom or flexibility," Lambert said. "So what we are trying to do is to get people, male, female, whoever it is, give them the opportunity to build their own book of business on a platform that serves very sophisticated clients at a price point that the clients can afford so that you can have an early-stage company [or] a sophisticated later stage company, but they can afford to pay your rate and you're able to grow something that you can be proud of and that you can have freedom, autonomy and flexibility."
The new firm also plans to hire additional attorneys in the near future, Lambert said. The firm also plans to offer full- and part-time positions for attorneys, responding to younger attorneys looking for alternatives to working grueling hours.
"So what we're trying to do is build a team-based approach," Lambert said. "We find that other types of law firm models are very much individualistic and the incentives are individual. We are really trying to create value for our clients through a team-based approach, so if that means bringing on contractor help and letting individuals work for us on a part-time basis to serve the needs of our clients and meet the needs of attorneys, we are happy to do that."
Lambert said Polvino has served as a friend and mentor to her throughout her legal career, including while they both practiced law at McKenna Long & Aldridge.
"Kathy has served as a mentor, friend and adviser to me since I was in my first year of practice," Lambert said. "She has never steered me wrong. She's never given me advice that has her interest's or anybody else's at heart instead of my own. When I was debating whether to take a leap of faith and take the in-house position, I was really nervous, she really had my back and encouraged me to take that leap of faith."
After Trellis was sold, Lambert was again "at another critical juncture" of her career, she said.
"I said 'I'm going to throw it out there to her and see if she'd want to team up' and when she did, I just was like, 'OK, I felt so confident that we could do something together,'" Lambert said.
Working at Trellis — what Lambert called a true start up — inspired Lambert in her own career.
"I feel like it gave me such an education on how to build something differently," Lambert said. "We had a tremendous outcome at that company because we were a 100% team. There was transparency, nobody was talking about each other behind closed doors. It was just such an open, positive environment and it led to tremendous success. That's what we're trying to build — open, honesty, transparency and basically having each other's back. It seems like it shouldn't be so hard to do, but unfortunately I think the way law firms distribute credit and things like that, it can lead to people being very individualistic."
The firm serves hospital systems, founder- or investor-led companies and other health care clients, advising clients on corporate transactional matters, regulatory issues, corporate governance and more, Lambert said. While they don't currently provide legal services related to tax, employment and litigation matters, they plan on building out a network of attorneys who they can refer clients to for those needs, Lambert said.
"The reason we're Health Law Strategists is we're trying to take the ego out of it, it's not anybody's last name, because it's a little bit different of a model," Lambert said. "But we're also trying to be not just lawyers. We are trying to be more than lawyers for our clients."
The firm provides legal services, maintains a deep understanding of the market and has a network of investors, advisers and consultants that they can connect their clients with, Lambert said.
Prior to joining Trellis, Lambert served as a partner at BakerHostetler and as an associate at McKenna Long, she said. Lambert earned her undergraduate degree at William & Mary University and her law degree at Georgia State University College of Law, according to her LinkedIn profile.