People often think that bigger or more expensive law firms equal more quality work from the attorneys at those firms. One recent award to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation represented by a small boutique law firm proves otherwise. As you may remember, in 2009, Colonial Bank failed, and was scalded by the court for being part of the largest bank fraud in U.S. history.
Recently, a small, five-attorney, California-based law firm won a professional negligence suit against Colonial Bank’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, for failing to detect the bank’s fraud. The suit not only included a record $625.3 million verdict, but also broke new legal ground by holding that it is the auditor’s job to find fraud. Nonetheless, the point here is that sometimes big, expensive law firms don’t always equal success, but the smaller firms that can work more closely with you and each other bring home bigger results.