James Fisher II, a cofounder of Atlanta-based FisherBroyles, hates it when people refer to his firm as a “virtual” law firm. ” ‘Virtual’ suggests “ unreal,” ‘ he says. “Rather, we think of ourselves as the amazon.com of the law firm world.”
Fisher has a point. The firm, which celebrated its 10-year anniversary this year, says it’s the oldest and largest of a handful of firms that have done away with brick-and-mortar office space, associates, and swaths of support staff for a “cloud-commuting” model, where most partners work from home. FisherBroyles’s 75 partners, mostly big-firm alums, can be hired at rates below those of a first-year associate at a top-tier firm. Nine in ten bill out at $300 an hour or less.
