E-Mail: johnklotz@johnklotz.com

Return to Klotz Law Homepage

Horizontal resources in a
vertical building

A decade and a half ago, Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave popularized the concepts of "horizontal integration" and "the information era." Some law firms and some clients have been slow to get the message.

While a Fortune 500 corporation may need the vertical power of a law firm giant for some complex tasks such as mergers and acquisitions, other tasks including litigation may be best handled by smaller legal organizations that are adept in marshaling independent resources to the task at hand. The Simpson "Dream Team" defense is one example of group of independent attorneys creating an ad hoc organization that was superior and more adept than the vertically organized L.A. District Attorney's office. See my article in the National Law Journal: Courtroom Jousts Now Done by Committee.

My record demonstrates an ability to reach out and create ad hoc legal and expert teams to deal with the task at hand. The client pays for what is used to solve his problems and not for the costly overhead necessary to maintain a "full service" law firm. Some examples include:

The Armstrong litigation.

To collect the Armstrong judgments, we obtained and supervised associate counsel in California, Connecticut and New Jersey. The litigation involved federal civil actions in New York and Connecticut; bankruptcy proceedings in California, New Jersey and Connecticut; state court proceedings in California and Connecticut and the monitoring of criminal prosecutions in New York.

Buchanan Presidential campaign.

Organized litigation throughout New York State when the Dole forces contested Buchanan's ballot petitions in all but three of the twenty-four congressional districts in which Buchanan filed. Each district was a separate proceeding. Appealed adverse rulings in three of the State's four Appellate Divisions. When a favorable ruling opened the door for relief in federal court, filed appropriate proceedings within a day and a half.

The Friedman forgeries.

Proving eight thousand forgeries in a New York State election law matter led to the indictment and conviction of twelve individuals for perjury and fraud. It required the organization and training of scores of workers from Congressman Jerry Nadler's political club in the art of examining the signatures. We obtained the services of an expert questioned document examiner. At the same time, we employed associate counsel to defend a vigorous challenge to Nadler's own petitions.

E-Mail: johnklotz@johnklotz.com

Return to Klotz Law Homepage