Step inside
the offices at 1346 N. Delaware St. and the feeling you're
likely to get is one of invading someone's quiet abode.
The furnishings are comfortable -- not like typical office
surroundings. The hardwood floors are polished to a warm
luster. The mahogany-hued woodwork has been meticulously
maintained.
Then you hear the phone. And the quick-paced footsteps.
And the hushed tones of several voices.
Yep. It's a law office all right.
Plews Shadley Racher & Braun. The biggest environmental
law firm in the state.
A total of 23 attorneys call this house, and the home across
the street at 1413 N. Delaware, the office. Two more will
join the Indianapolis firm early this summer. Two attorneys
also work out of Plews Shadley's South Bend office.
But the large environmental shop had humble beginnings
12 years ago.
It was 1988, and George Plews, who then was a partner at
Baker & Daniels, and Sue Shadley, who had just left
the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, decided
it was time to do something else. Something of their own.
"We wanted to create a niche firm," Plews says. "We wanted
to offer the same caliber of service that's offered at large
firms, and have a sophisticated, complex practice. We focused
our practice in a fairly discreet area, rather than a general
practice, which is the typical model for law firms."
The small, boutique set-up has worked well for the practice.
Plews Shadley recruits experienced attorneys, rather than
focusing on getting the best right out of law school. Many
of the firm's lawyers have scientific degrees, says Plews.
And the firm doesn't just take either plaintiff's or defense
work. They do both. The practice was designed that way.
"We thought it would make us better lawyers and be more
fun," he says.
The entrepreneurial drive was part of the impetus for starting
their own shop, Plews says of the founding partners. All
of them wanted a chance to touch all parts of the practice
and have a hand in molding a workplace. To help accomplish
that, firm management passes each year to a different partner.
"It may be somewhat inefficient, but it makes administration
lively," Plews says. "It's possible to be a partner in a
firm and never touch the business part of the practice."
Plews says he would regret missing that chance, in light
of what managing a practice has taught him on a personal
level, and what it has taught him about the firm's clients
-- many of whom are business people.
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IL
photo/Rebecca Collier
This
former house, at 1346 N. Delaware St., was the site
of the predecessor to the Indiana University School
of Law -- Indianapolis. Now being used as office space
for the environmental law firm of Plews Shadley Racher
& Braun, the structure was home to the law school
from 1936 to 1940. It's been the firm's home for six
years.
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Even the location of the firm's Indianapolis offices just
makes good business sense. The cost of running the firm
out of the two Indianapolis Old Northside addresses is one
half of what it was downtown. Plews Shadley wanted to get
away from the sky-scraper environment and in 1994 purchased
the home at 1346 N. Delaware, which was built in 1912. The
structure has a legal history -- it was the site of what
would become the Indiana University Law School, which met
there from 1936 through 1940. The firm bought the offices
across the street, an 1888 Victorian structure, in 1995.
The South Bend shop is in a more traditional office environment,
and it opened in early 1999.
Being a small firm has given the partners a chance to experiment
with a variety of business practices. Plews Shadley offers
profit sharing to its associates after the first year, and
the amount of the share tends to progress with the associate's
longevity with the firm.
The firm also takes a different approach to how they hire
first-year lawyers. Rather than competing head-to-head with
the bigger firms in town for the top talent right out of
law school, Plews Shadley places more of an emphasis on
paying its fifth- and sixth-year associates more handsomely
than new recruits. The philosophy is simple: A fifth-year
lawyer is more valuable to the firm than a first-year lawyer,
Plews says.
New lawyers at large firms may be paid more than a new
lawyer at a boutique firm, but a Plews Shadley fifth-year
lawyer will surpass the salary of a fifth-year lawyer at
a big firm, Plews says.
The firm also is interested in attracting lawyers who have
had another career first, and then decided to go to law
school later. That "outside the legal community" perspective
is valuable to the firm, Plews says. Partner Peter Racher
is one such example. He was a journalist -- at The Des Moines
Register, The Tallahassee Democrat and The Charlotte Observer
-- prior to going to law school.
And the perks for employees at a small firm can be quite
a bonus. Plews keeps an 8-by-10 color photo that shows firm
employees and their significant others decked out in their
finery. It was taken on the cruise the firm sent everyone
on to celebrate Plews Shadley's 10th anniversary.
But not all the social events have been quite so elegant.
Plews describes a camping trip the firm took to Indiana
Beach. Expecting to go tent camping in a wooded setting,
Plews says he knew they were out of their element when he
learned his camp site would be on 12th Street.
"The point is we've had fun even when things haven't turned
out as we thought they would," Plews says. "Laughter is
a big part of the firm culture."
The focus of the practice has shifted a bit from what it
was in the beginning. Twelve years ago, about 95 percent
of the focus was on environmental law. Today, environmental
law makes up about 75 percent of the firm's practice, Plews
says.
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IL
photo/Rebecca Collier
Plews
Shadley Racher & Braun purchased this 1888 Victorian
structure at 1412 N. Delaware St. in 1995. It sits
across the street from the firm's other Indianapolis
office, both of which are located in the Old Northside
neighborhood.
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For example, the firm was the first in the country to bring
actions against the banking industry relating to problems
in adjustable rate mortgages. And Plews Shadley was asked
by then-attorney general Jeff Modisett to take up the state's
side against Big Tobacco.
"That's the kind of case we started our firm to do," Plews
says.
In addition to involving themselves in legal work that
grabs headlines, and being part of 40 appellate cases in
the firms's history, Plews Shadley also has started a couple
of businesses. Both are insurance firms -- one health and
one environmental.
None of it would have been possible if those founding partners
had listened to anyone who told them they'd regret starting
their own small firm.
"I can't emphasize how much fun this is," Plews says. "And
I would urge other attorneys to not underestimate how much
fun it can be."
