Kaufman and Canoles
Move could aid commerce with Hampton Roads
The Hampton Roads-based law firm is expanding to Raleigh, in order to take advantage of N.C.’s growing economy and client connectons in the region.
Hampton Roads-based Kaufman & Canoles is expanding its business law practice to Raleigh, N.C., to take advantage of that market’s growth.
The move could also strengthen opportunity for commerce between the two regions, its leader says.
“This is good for Hampton Roads. This is good for Raleigh,” Kaufman & Canoles Chairman William R. Van Buren III said. “We’re excited to be able to be an engine of growth for our community.”
The firm had a number of clients, like TowneBank, that had expanded to Raleigh or nearby, and had been eyeing the area for some time, Van Buren said.
Raleigh-Cary, N.C., ranks
fifth for best-performing large metro area in economic performance, including job and wage growth, according to the Milken Institute. The North Carolina Research Triangle’s tech sector rivals that of Austin, Texas.
“We’ve been looking for the right partner to advance our cause down in Raleigh,” he said, adding, “Opportunity and talent sometimes stumble into each other.”
And attorneys at Kaufman & Canoles already knew Frank Hirsch, a Raleigh-based lawyer experienced in business litigation and class action suits in the financial services sector. Hirsch, after recovering from surgeries last year, said he had been looking to travel less and be more involved with the community,
and wanted to plan the next phase of his career.
He started in January as senior attorney with Kaufman & Canoles to lead its expansion into North Carolina. He and the firm are actively recruiting a legal team there to work seamlessly with the Virginia team.
The 100-year-old firm’s model has been to build teams focused on industries rather than operating as a collective of individual practitioners, Van Buren said. It also has offices in Richmond and Tysons Corner in Northern Virginia.
“Law firms are built on relationships and trust and shared values,” Van Buren said.
“… Having someone we’re so connected to in Frank to extend our brand and our culture and our client focus into that market and handpick others who can mirror those reflected values, it’s pretty opportunistic for us.”
It would be more difficult to convince a North Carolina-based firm with a long and storied history to be adopted by an out-of-town firm, he explained. Plus, Hirsch said he will enjoy building the business in a market he loves while also having the back-office support and capacity of a 100-attorney firm.
Hirsch was most recently a partner in the litigation and trial practice group and co-chair of the financial services litigation team for Alston & Bird in Raleigh.
He has defended class action lawsuits in more than 20 states and handled antitrust/unfair competition, abusive or deceptive trade practices, and business tort matters.
His experience in the financial industry will help Kaufman & Canoles’ existing clients around the world, Van Buren said, and his business network will help the firm grow its client roster.
In particular, Van Buren sees opportunity for the firm’s health care practice, which had already expanded beyond Hampton Roads and along the East Coast.
Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare, another client, is also expanding near Raleigh with plans to merge with Cone Health based in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Hirsch said he has been involved with Virginia clients on commercial real estate matters and sees opportunity there for Kaufman & Canoles with the amount of development happening in Raleigh.
In addition to consumer finance litigation and banking matters, he said he views immigration work related to hightech jobs in the Triangle and privacy issues — with Virginia just passing a comprehensive data privacy law — as opportunities, too.
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