Counsel to Counsel - November 2008 - (Page 6) partnership at a glance Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC has more than 120 attorneys in six offices in West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. The firm, which was founded in 1864, serves major corporate clients as well as family-owned businesses. Bruce M. Jacobs is a member in the Charleston, W.Va., office of Spilman. His practice focuses on consumer credit and protection laws, banking law and commercial litigation. Bruce is Peer Review Rated. Contact him at bjacobs@spilmanlaw.com. Jeffrey D. Patton is the member in charge of the Winston-Salem, N.C., office of Spilman. His primary areas of practice include trial work and complex commercial litigation, consumer finance litigation and labor and employment law. Jeffrey is Peer Review Rated. Contact him at jpatton@spilmanlaw.com. as lead trial counsel on behalf of TeleCheck. According to Patton, Spilman looks at every matter from a litigation standpoint, rather than a settlement one. “We approach every case as if it is going to trial. We take a lot of care in assessing a lawsuit in the first 45-90 days after it’s been filed,” he says. “The earlier you can quantify exposure and defense costs in a suit, the more control you establish over those variables. Spilman’s our region into other jurisdictions,” says Jacobs. It’s part of Spilman’s philosophy to keep expenses down and quality high. For example, when the firm decided to open an office in North Carolina, it did so in Winston-Salem, and not the state capital of Raleigh. Cost played a part in that decision, according to Jacobs—Raleigh is a more evolved, communication between TeleCheck and Spilman tends to be informal. Generally, when matters arise, Williams first contacts Jacobs. The two review the type of matter, jurisdiction, the judge assigned to the case and the strategy for pursuing the litigation. “Then, we put together those people who can work together as a coherent team,” says Jacobs. “We have a lot of Type A personalities here, but they all work well together.” Jeffrey D. Patton, Spilman’s member in charge of the Winston-Salem, N.C., office, Spilman Member Niall A. Paul and Spilman Counsel Elliot G. Hicks, a former president of the West Virginia State Bar, have worked very good at making predictive assessments. And while this is a firm that’s not afraid to go to trial, I also trust them to advise when settling a matter early will be the most economically advantageous course,” says Williams. expensive city than Winston-Salem. But another consideration is that Winston-Salem is home to several manufacturing, banking and service industry leaders. The result is a powerful combination of experienced lawyers and savings to offer its clients. “Jane has grasped and understood the concept that from our ‘in-shore offices,’ we can provide quality work across the nation at a very low rate,” agrees Jacobs. Appalachian Overhead Like all in-house counsel, Williams constantly looks for ways to better control litigation costs. “Spilman is geographically situated in areas that have the most reasonable billing rates in the country,” she says. Jacobs calls it the “Appalachian overhead.” “Instead of off-shoring, Jane has decided to in-shore by ‘importing’ the lower costs of 06 LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell®
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