Elsberg Baker & Maruri founding partner Vivek Tata recently joined Jonathan Hawkins on the Founding Partner Podcast to talk about building a litigation boutique and the people-first approach behind the firm’s growth.
Tata talked about the mindset that led him to the boutique path, and building the skills to become the trial lawyer he wanted to be. He reflected on not letting a career happen passively. “There’s actually risk in just sort of letting your career drift along, and you actually want to be active and thinking about what is it that I need to do for my own experience so that I can be the best lawyer I can be,” Tata said.
That same instinct carried into the decision to join in starting Elsberg Baker & Maruri. “Your gut tells you it’s the right choice, right? If you have this opportunity to say, ‘You know what? I want to do it.’ There’s a common saying, ‘If you get offered a seat on a rocket ship, take it,’” he said. “You don't second-guess these opportunities because these opportunities don’t come along every day. And so, it was sort of do it now or don’t do it.”
On recruiting, Tata said the firm’s growth has been built on the idea that good associates attract more good associates. “If you can offer your associates a good experience, they know other good people. It’s like anything else. Good people know good people,” he said. “And I’ve always found that the best indicator of someone’s ability as an associate is the people they’ve worked with before.”
Tata also emphasized that building a firm is a shared effort, one where ownership isn’t limited to the name on the door. “I want everyone to feel like they have a role in building the firm, including the most junior associate, staff, everybody,” he said. “I'm very happy to come to work and know that this is a place that I helped build.”
Two years and a lot of cases later, Tata said the growth has come with an unexpected side effect: the firm doesn’t feel new anymore. “I can’t remember the last time that I thought, ‘My goodness, we’re so new.’ I feel like I’ve been doing this at this firm for years now, and it’s been two years,” he said. “Once you’re in it, once you’re in the cases, once you’re looking at documents and writing briefs, all that goes away.”
Listen to the full podcast below.
