<a href="https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/broadfield-hits-ny-after-melding-uk-law-firm-back-office-shop" target="_blank">Bloomberg Law</a>
By Alex Ebert

Broadfield, a UK law firm rebranded after partnering with a professional services company, is launching its first US outpost in New York City.

Broadfield will open with five US partners, the firm said Wednesday. It formed last year through a partnership between operational services provider SHP Legal Services and London-based law firm BDB Pitmans. It’s looking to court international businesses seeking cost-effective legal representation in the US after opening a Hong Kong branch earlier this year.

Clients will get lawyers with “global reach” but “without all the institutional infrastructure that other global law firms have had,” said New York co-founding partner Michael Volpe, a labor and employment lawyer who joined from Venable. “We’re going to go to market in a much more efficient way.”

The expansion is a test of the business model at the center of Broadfield’s creation. SHP is a subsidiary of LSS Strategic Partners, which is a sister company of global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal, best known for its work related to winding down FTX and Lehman Brothers. The relationship aims to cut costs for the firm by providing back-office management, technology, and hiring work.

The move comes as the legal industry experiments with “alternative business structures” in the US, where firms generally are banned from taking outside investment or sharing fees with non-lawyers. Utah, Arizona, and Puerto Rico have loosened those restrictions, most notably with Big Four consultancy KPMG winning approval to open a US law firm in February.

Broadfield is structured to stay within regulatory bounds, according to Volpe. It’s a law firm owned by its partners and contracting with a service-providing vendor, he said. Their play: high quality legal services, but at rates “a few hundred less” per hour than Big Law bills.

“Amid significant market disruption in the US, clients are demanding innovative solutions to tackle rising costs and dynamically shifting complexities,” Volpe said. “Customers ask ‘what does it mean for me?’ And when I say, ‘Well, the hourly billing rate has gone down by $200.’ They’re pretty happy.’”

<h3>Growing Team</h3>

Broadfield’s founding team in the US brings a mix of practice area focuses.

Christopher Hagenbuch joins the firm from Dentons, where he advised on M&A, venture capital, and strategic investments. He was part of a team that steered Intel on its $16.7 billion purchase of Altera in 2015 and has worked on transactions involving sovereign wealth funds, according to his new firm.

New York deals lawyers Michael O’Brien and Adele Hogan are jumping to Broadfield from Otterbourg PC, while Trevor Bradley brings intellectual property and commercial litigation experience from Robinson+Cole.

Volpe co-led the labor and employment practice at Venable LLP, where he worked for nearly two decades. He previously served as mayor of the Village of Pelham in New York’s Westchester County.

Broadfield’s goal is to build on corporate transnational practices, commercial litigation, and labor and employment with an eye toward helping companies enter US markets. It will call on private equity, hedge fund, and tax lawyers in the wider Broadfield network, and look to connect with other practitioners through SHP Legal Services for new hires.

The New York team has five other attorneys and an office space in midtown Manhattan, but they hope to announce a more permanent home. Long-term, Volpe said Broadfield will be looking at potential expansion on the West Coast, as well as in Chicago, Houston, and maybe Florida.