Whats next for 50-state Gordon Rees after pandemic hibernation?
REUTERS/Lee Smith  Law firms Wilson Elser See all The company and law firm names shown above are generated automatically based on the text of the article. We are improving this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We welcome feedback, which you can provide using the feedback tab on the right of the page. (Reuters) - As it celebrates two years as the self-described sole U.S. law firm with offices in all 50 states, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani is building on the next phase of its expansion strategy. The San Francisco based firm's priority now is continuing to "backfill in areas that aren't as robust or built out," said managing partner Dion Cominos, adding he sees particular opportunities for growth in the Southeast and Midwest. In a signal of that approach, less than two weeks ago Gordon Rees grew its presence in the Midwest, bringing on a 12-lawyer team from Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker in Detroit. There are now 19 lawyers listed on the firm's website in its Detroit office, which opened three years ago  The firm in April marked two years since announcing the opening of its 68th office, giving it at least one office in each U.S. state. "The payoff was amazing," said San Francisco-based Cominos, who has been at the firm since 1987. The move gave the firm the opportunity to cross-market to existing clients, he said, and "a lot of clients switched over and started using us in areas they previously didn't." The firm now has 70 offices with about 1,000 lawyers. Last year it broke into the Am Law 100 ranking of the country's highest-grossing law firms, based on 2019 revenues. The firm generated revenue of more than $442 million in 2020, according to The American Lawyer. Like law firm leaders across the country, Cominos said he is thinking about "reimagining" office arrangements and in-person interactions in a post-pandemic world, with a focus on "customization and flexibility." But even when many lawyers were working remotely, the 50-state platform has been "a real godsend, especially during the pandemic, when there was a lot of confusion and disruption, to have clients know that they could come to us as a trusted partner, and that wherever they had needs, we could help them," Cominos said. It's also served as a powerful recruiting tool for lawyers who may have felt they were leaving opportunities on the table without a national platform, he said. John Eads, one of the Wilson Elser recruits who now serves as the Detroit office's managing partner, said the 50-state approach "definitely was a motivating factor" when the team was weighing the move. Beyond geographic expansion, Cominos said practice areas ripe for growth include employment, intellectual property, commercial litigation, insurance, construction and infrastructure. Were certainly going to come out of (the pandemic) very, very aggressively, he said. Think of it as a bear emerging from hibernation.