[THE FIRM]
A small firm, on purpose.
Vessey Strand is a litigation firm of sixteen lawyers. We take disputes that are going to be argued rather than managed, and we keep the firm at a size where the people who know the record are the people in the room.
The firm was formed by two trial lawyers who wanted a practice organised around hearings rather than around departments. That decision governs almost everything else here: how many matters we take at once, how teams are staffed, and why there is no separate group that appears only when a case is nearly over.
We act for claimants and for defendants. Keeping both sides of the docket is deliberate — it is difficult to judge how an argument will be received if you have only ever made it from one chair.
We are based in New York and appear where our clients' disputes are heard.
What we hold to.
The brief is argued by the lawyer who wrote it
Drafting and advocacy are the same task separated by a few weeks. Splitting them produces briefs that read well and arguments that cannot answer questions.
Documents before theories
We do not settle on a narrative until the record has been read. A theory adopted early has to be defended later against the documents that contradict it.
One case at a time, per lawyer, where we can
Trial dates do not move for scheduling convenience. We would rather decline a matter than staff it with people who are already committed elsewhere.
Plain language, including with each other
Internal notes are written the way we would want a judge to read them. It is a useful test of whether an argument is actually an argument.
Working here
We hire a small number of lawyers each year and expect them to be on their feet quickly. Associates take depositions in their first year, draft the motions they will argue, and carry a pro bono matter of their own from the start.
There is no rotation and no shadow year. If you join a case, you read the record and you keep the part of it that is yours until it is over.
- Summer trial-skills programme, six weeks, application in the spring
- One clinic term expected of every lawyer each year
- Mentoring is assigned by case, not by cohort