When it comes to the all-important water litigation, Georgia has always acquired the heaviest legal artillery – big, wealthy, politically connected law firms – to argue its side.
This month, however, the state took a different fork in the river: Gov. Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens hired a small specialty Atlanta firm to represent the state in the water wars.
Kazmarek Mowrey Cloud Laseter LLP, a 13-lawyer firm with seasoned attorneys who left large law firms, replaces a legal team that represented Georgia’s interests in the contentious tri-state case for almost 15 years.
Kazmarek Mowrey will have to be quick on its feet. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ updated water control plan for federal reservoirs that include Lake Allatoona is expected in the coming months. Its release could spawn new litigation. Later, perhaps next year, the Corps will release its plans for Lake Lanier.
The state’s change in lawyers represents a passing of the torch. The state will no longer be relying on one of the city’s most powerful and politically connected law firms in the momentous dispute involving Georgia, Florida, Alabama and a host of other intensely interested parties.
The switch will also be the redirection of mountainous attorneys’ fees. In just the last five years alone, lawyers representing Georgia’s interests have billed more than $2.7 million for their work.
The selection of Kazmarek Mowrey underscores a national trend in which nimble boutiques continue to continue to draw litigation business away from well-entrenched mega firms. Boutiques have lawyers who specialize in certain practice areas such as employment law, intellectual property or, in the water case, environmental litigation.
“It validates what we set ourselves up to do,” said Skip Kazmarek, 64, who helped found the niche law firm six years ago. “It is hard not to be humbled by being selected for a matter of this scope and importance to the state. It’s really an honor.”
The firm’s clients include Coca-Cola and Atlanta Gas Light, and its lawyers have handled legal matters involving toxic tort litigation, hazardous site cleanups and clean air permitting.
Kazmarek and his partners fit the profile of successful boutiques nationwide. They left big law firms and struck out on their own. Without a high overhead, they do not have to bill like senior partners at high profile law firms, who charge $750 or more an hour.
“Litigation boutiques have a strategic advantage over law firms when it comes to attracting clients that are very price sensitive,” said Mark Curriden, who founded The Texas Lawbook, a publication specializing on the business of law.
“Lawyers at large firms frequently find themselves trapped in certain price ranges that the firm’s leadership has set,” Curriden said. “However, boutiques can offer alternative fee arrangements for clients who want lawyers to handle very specific, narrow matters. In the last five years, we have seen more and more litigation partners at large firms go out and start their own law firms or join with others. And they’re taking client business with them.”
In 2008, Kazmarek and two attorneys left McKenna Long & Aldridge, the firm that had represented Georgia in the water litigation, to set up the specialized boutique.
Last June, they merged with another boutique composed of energy and environmental lawyers who had left the large Alston & Bird law firm. Kazmarek Mowrey quickly made its first bid to get a piece of Georgia’s water wars legal work.
After Florida threatened to sue Georgia in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Kazmarek Mowrey was one of 29 firms that submitted proposals to represent the state. It teamed up with Thomas Goldstein, a Washington attorney who has argued more than 25 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
In its proposal, the boutique said it could offer equal or better high-quality legal services “without the expensive trappings — and some of the attendant perverse incentives — prevalent in many big firm practices.”
On Tuesday, Bob Mowrey said this referred to the expensive office space, pricey artwork and extraneous staff often used by big firms. High overheads also give these firms an inherent incentive to put as many young lawyers on a case as possible to increase billings, he added.
“We’ve stripped all that away,” Mowrey, 50, said.
In October, the state awarded the work on the Florida case to former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman and the Chicago law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Waxman, who successfully argued a key Georgia appeal in the water case before the federal appeals court in Atlanta, is charging an initial flat fee of $150,000; Kirkland & Ellis is charging $200,000.
Although Kazmarek Mowrey didn’t get this job, its proposal caught the attention of state decision-makers. In late January, Kazmarek said, the state asked if his firm was interested in handling Georgia’s legal work in the tri-state dispute. By early March, an agreement was reached.
The state has yet to finalize financial terms of the legal engagement. In prior legal work for the state, Kazmarek billed at $225 an hour.
By hiring Kazmarek Mowrey, the state is breaking ties with McKenna Long & Aldridge, which represented Georgia’s water interests spanning the terms of three governors. The firm earned millions of dollars in legal fees for this work, although its attorneys routinely billed the state at greatly reduced hourly rates.
Bruce Brown, who is now a sole practitioner but helped lead McKenna Long’s team in the water litigation, said it’s a good time for the transition.
“It’s hard to give up something like this, but we’ve been at it a long time,” Brown said. As for Kazmarek Mowrey, he said, “They’re all well-credentialed and highly qualified. … I think they’ll do a fine job.”
As governor in the late 1990s, Roy Barnes hired Clay Long, one of McKenna Long’s founding partners, to be the state’s top water lawyer. The firm then turned to Brown, Todd Silliman and John Allen to handle most of the litigation.
“I was somewhat surprised to hear the news of the change,” said Barnes, now a Marietta attorney. “I hate to see them go. They won a lot of key cases, and if you win, you keep the same lawyer. But Skip’s firm specializes in this work too. It’s just going to take them a while to get up to speed.”
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