WILMINGTON — Boutique business law firm Esbrook PC. has opened a Wilmington office led by seasoned Delaware attorney Scott Leonhardt, who has a strong track record of transactional and bankruptcy experience.
Leonhardt, most recently associated with Rosner Law Group LLChas joined Esbrook as a partner and the only lawyer the firm has
Scott J. Leonhardt. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ESBROOK PC
in the first state so far.
“Esbrook embodies the mix of offering an unmatched value proposition to customers,” Leonhardt said in a prepared statement. “It is an honor to lead the firm’s expansion into Delaware. I appreciate my partners’ confidence in me to contribute to the firm’s accelerated growth strategy, and I look forward to contributing my in-depth experience in corporate transactions, corporate litigation, commercial litigation and bankruptcy.”
While Leonhardt is the only attorney in the firm’s Delaware office so far, founder Christopher Esbrook plans to hire more to join Leonhardt in the newly leased office in the Brandywine Building in downtown Wilmington.
“We have hired recruiters to help staff the office along with other bankruptcy and trial attorneys,” Esbrook told the Delaware Business Times. “Scott is a tremendous lawyer and a perceived practitioner. There are lawyers who ‘get it’: they have the right strategy, they are communicative, good writers and they are good tacticians. Scott is one of those lawyers, and we are happy to have him with us.”
Esbrook himself is an industry veteran with 15 years at the major law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP. There, he worked on notable legal cases, including serving as chair of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill case and a trial at the now-disbanded Moscow Arbitration Court for a lawsuit against the missile manufacturer for the Russian military. Over the years, Esbrook’s time also transitioned into private equity and transactional law, working in Delaware and with local counsel.
In 2018, he first chose to open a boutique firm in Chicago to essentially become litigation specialists for companies that want premium legal services at more affordable prices.
“I looked around and I really didn’t see it in the Chicago market, but as it turns out, the need is nationwide,” Esbrook said. “I really wanted to attack that market because clients want to hire the right firm because of the material issues. And they need the law firm that is sophisticated, but the exposure of the case would not justify hiring a big law firm . I think we found an opportunity in the market because of that strategy.”
Christopher Esbrook. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ESBROOK PC
Esbrook offers competitive pricing and alternative fee structures. More law firms are beginning to embrace alternative fee structures that differ from billable hours by offering flat fees or costs depending on the stage of the legal case, success fees and other options. ONE Bloomberg Survey 2021 found that 84% of law firms offer some form of fee agreements, with most relying on a fixed fee.
Since leaving Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Esbrook has grown his firm to include 35 attorneys in offices in New York and Washington DC to handle a full spectrum of litigation, including multi-district litigation, where the team works with local attorneys—an experience , which would lead to the meeting with Leonhardt.
“We worked like 10 cases together in Delaware, and it got to the point where I realized we practice so much in the state that it made sense to open an office,” Esbrook said. “Scott’s experience allows us to do complex litigation and expand directly into bankruptcy cases, as that is his expertise.”
It’s no secret that Delaware is a big draw for corporate lawyers, as more than 66% of Fortune 500 companies have incorporated in Delaware due to the Court of Chancery and its rich laws that have been in place for more than a hundred years . But for a boutique firm, it also makes sense to start building a presence to work with other large law firms who need local counsel to represent them in the courtroom and guide them through the system.
“I was trying to find someone who had the sophisticated book of business for hourly levels that were lower than what you see from big firms,” he said. “It’s the same type of dynamic that we saw in Chicago — and it turned out to be more true than I thought. And I’m seeing it specifically in Delaware.”