Levene Gouldin & Thompson grows strategically

VESTAL — The natural-gas and oil drilling boom in northern Pennsylvania has paid big dividends for one of the Binghamton area’s major law firms.

“Our oil-and-gas practice is helping to [spark] the firm’s growth,” says Jeffrey A. Loew, managing partner of Levene Gouldin & Thompson, LLP, headquartered at 450 Plaza Drive in Vestal. “It is not only a booming industry, but also the growth of oil and gas has generated more work in some of our other practice areas, such as elder law, trust and estates, and personal injury.

“We’ve had an oil-and-gas practice for five years, which is chaired by Scott Kurkoski … Oil and gas development in northeastern Pennsylvania is one of the main factors that led us into [this region] … On Jan. 1, Jim Carroll (James R. Carroll, Jr.) joined the firm. He is ‘of counsel’ … Jim is our resident attorney in the new Athens office … We also have partners and associates in Athens on a regular basis,” adds Loew.

Levene Gouldin & Thompson was formed in 1927 in downtown Binghamton. “The law practice currently employs 150, including 60 attorneys of whom 35 are partners and 115 are associates and support people. All but two are in the Central New York region,” says Loew. “We have seven locations — six in New York and one in Pennsylvania: Vestal, Binghamton, Deposit, Ithaca, Spencer, Whitney Point, and Athens.” When asked for the firm’s 2012 revenues, Loew said only that “… 2012 was a strong year …”

The expansion into Pennsylvania follows on the heels of opening another office. On July 1, 2012, Levene Gouldin & Thompson acquired the practice of George D. Patte, Jr. with offices at 121 Buffalo St. in Ithaca and 140 N. Main St. in Spencer. “One of the reasons we decided to set up in the Tompkins County area is that we [already]… have clients, both corporate and personal, that we serve in the area,” David Gouldin, partner, said in a 2012 Business Journal interview. The Spencer office services Tioga State Bank, one of the larger clients in that area.

Levene Gouldin & Thompson’s growth was propelled back in 2000 in what was billed as the largest law-firm merger in Broome Country history. At the time, Chernin & Gold, also founded in 1927, had 10 partners, two associates, a paralegal, and several office staff who merged with Levene Gouldin & Thompson to create a law firm with more than 75 attorneys and paralegals. Richard Matties was the managing partner of Chernin & Gold and is currently of counsel to Levene Gouldin & Thompson. The merger yielded a practice with multiple offices and branches with attorneys licensed to practice in many states. “C&G’s business was complementary to ours. It was a positive strategic transaction for both firms,” says Loew.

“Levene Gouldin & Thompson is currently organized into multiple practice areas,” notes the managing partner, “which include business, trusts and estates, elder law, matrimonial and family, plaintiffs, insurance and litigation, oil and gas, health law, and real estate. Each area has practice chairs who serve as a quasi executive committee. [In addition to myself], the management team includes Albert Kukol, the assistant managing partner; Christopher Pilotti, director of administration; Robert Danilison, chief information officer; Kelly Slocum, director of finance; and Lisa Bodnar, the assistant director of administration.

“Recruiting attorneys to the firm is a challenge,” says Loew. “Young attorneys graduating with $100,000 in debt are often looking for a [big-city] law firm that pays high salaries. Our best opportunity is to find those with a connection to the region … That’s why we interview at Albany, Buffalo, Cornell, and Syracuse … Or they may be considering raising a family … What we offer is the opportunity to become a partner in five, six, or seven years … We also are pioneers in offering flexible hours and in accommodating families … We’re not a sweat shop like New York City [firms] … We don’t require minimum billing hours.”

While recruiting attorneys can be problematic, attracting paralegals is less so. “We employ about 30 paralegals at the firm, mostly in the real-estate and trusts-and-estates practices,” says Loew. “Broome Community College offers a certification program, and the growth of the oil-and-gas industry has attracted paralegal candidates to our area.”

Loew, now approaching his 49th birthday, grew up in Vestal and graduated from Hartwick College in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in philosophy/history. He graduated from the Wake Forest University School of Law in 1989 and practiced at a law firm in Atlanta, before joining the Vestal practice at Levene Gouldin & Thompson in 1993. Loew became the managing partner on July 1, 2011. He specializes in business and corporate, health, and real-estate law.

When asked about his competitors, Loew divides them into positive and negative categories. “We compete against local firms [such as] Hinman, Howard & Kattell and Coughlin & Gerhart … We have a cordial, healthy competition [with them]. We are all part of the [local] community …  The law firms from outside the region [chasing] personal injury cases and DWI or the Philadelphia firms [cashing in] on the oil-and-gas boom … have a negative impact [on our profession].”

When asked whether Levene Gouldin & Thompson was targeting any additional offices at this time, Loew responds “No. We intend to grow our offices in Ithaca and Athens.” His response may be accurate in the short term, but the firm is always focused on growing strategically. What started more than eight decades ago as a small Binghamton law office has now grown into one of the largest and most respected law practices in the region by expanding both geographically and by adding practice areas. The recognition is confirmed by Levene Gouldin & Thompson’s inclusion in the 2012 rankings of top law firms by LexisNexis, Martindale-Hubbell, Fortune magazine, and ALM Media Properties.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@tgbbj.com