Two local firms figure prominently in Business Journal's 'largest law firms' list

Two of the St. Louis region's largest law firms are based right here in Madison County - HeplerBroom of Edwardsville and Simmons of Alton.

The St. Louis Business Journal's Book of Lists 2013 recently ranked the top 74 firms in the area by number of local licensed attorneys.

HeplerBroom was ranked 10th on the list with 72 local attorneys, 31 of which are partners. The firm, which handles civil defense of cases including class actions, product liability and asbestos, also employs 34 associates locally. The firm has offices in St. Louis, Springfield and Chicago.

The report states that "local" is defined as St. Louis, St. Charles, Lincoln, Franklin, Washington and Jefferson counties and the city of St. Louis in Missouri, and Jersey, Madison, Clinton, St. Clair, Calhoun, Macoupin, Bond and Monroe counties in Illinois.

While the list includes hourly fee range for many of the firms that appear on the list, that information is not included with HeplerBroom stats.

The Simmons firm, which primarily pursues asbestos injury claims, employs 55 attorneys locally - 17 are partners and 35 are local associates, according to the report. Simmons also has offices in St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco and El Segundo, Calif. The list reports that Simmons fee structure is contingency-based.

Tied for first was Bryan Cave and Thompson Coburn with 253 local licensed attorneys.

Bryan Cave has 107 local partners and 92 local associates. The list states that the hourly range for Bryan Cave is between $200 and $695 per hour. The firm's local offices are in St. Louis and Edwardsville.

Thompson Coburn, located in St. Louis as well as in Belleville, has 174 partners and 73 associates. The hourly range reported is $200-$575.

Rounding out the top 10:

-Husch Blackwell with 206 local attorneys. Range: $200-$580;

-Armstrong Teasdale with 195 local attorneys. Range:  $195-$525;

-Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale with 163 local attorneys. Range:  $185-$515;

-Lewis, Rice & Fingersh with 131 local attorneys. Range: $195-$500;

-Polsinelli Shughart with 89 local attorneys. Range: $200-$520;

-Brown & James with 84 local attorneys. Range: $135-$325;

-Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard with 75 local attorneys. Range not listed.

The Belleville firm of Mathis Marifian & Richter, with 25 local attorneys was tied for 26th. Range: $140-$300.

Heyl Royster of Edwardsville, with 24 local attorneys, was tied for 29th. Range not listed.

Goldenberg Heller Antognoli & Rowland of Edwardsville with 13 local attorneys was tied for 58th. Range: $150-$350.

Byron Carlson Petri & Kalb of Edwardsville with 10 local attorneys was tied for 69th. Range: $195-$400.

Other firms and the number of local licensed attorneys in the rest of order:

11: Evans & Dixon - 72

13: Stinson Morrison Hecker - 49

14: Lashly & Baer - 43

14: SNR Denton -43

16: Carmody MacDonald - 37

17: Pitzer Snodgrass - 35

18: Senniger Powers -34

19: Danna McKitrick - 31

20: The Solar Partnership - 29

21: Boggs, Avellino, Lach & Boggs - 28

22: Williams Venker & Sanders - 22

23: Boyle Brasher - 26

23: Paule Camazine & Blumenthal - 26

23: The Lowenbaum Partnership - 26

26: Herzog Crebs - 25

26: Lathrop & Gage - 25

29: Brinker & Doyen - 24

29: Spencer Fane Britt & Browne - 24

32: Capes, Sokol, Goodman & Sarachan - 23

32: Hinshaw & Culbertson - 32

32: McMahon Berger - 23

36: Brown & Crouppen - 22

36: Summers Compton Wells - 22

38: McCarthy, Leonard & Kaemmerer - 21

38: Rynearson, Suess, Schnurbusch & Champion - 21

38: Tueth Keeney Cooper Mohan & Jackstadt - 21

42: Cordell & Cordell - 20

42: Harness, Dickey & Pierce -20

42: Rosenblum Goldenhersh Silverstein & Zafft - 20

42: Stone Leyton & Gershman - 20

46: Schuchat, Cook & Werner - 19

47: Ogletree Deakins - 18

48: Kramer & Frank - 17

48: Polster Lieder Woodruff & Lucchesi - 17

50: Curtis, Heinz, Garrett and O'Keefe - 16

50: Kodner Watkins & Kloecker - 16

50: Kohn Shands Elbert Giannoulakis & Giljum - 16

53: Behr, McCarter & Potter - 15

53: Hesse Martone - 15

53: Rosenblum, Schwartz, Rogers & Glass -15

56: Hammond and Shinners - 14

56: Holtkamp Liese Schultz & Hilliker - 14

58: Fox Galvin - 13

58: Hazelwood & Weber - 13

58: Jenkins & Kling - 13

58: McAnany, Van Cleave & Phillips - 13

64: Blitz, Bardgett & Deutsch - 12

64: Gray, Ritter & Graham - 12

64: Helfrey, Neiers & Jones - 12

64: Sauerwein Simon - 12

68: Hawkins Parnell Thackston & Young - 11

69: Doster Ullom -10

69: Roberts Perryman -10

73: Childress Ahlheim Cary - 8

73: Eckenrode-Maupin - 8

73: Sher Corwin Winters - 8

The report, researched by Nicholas Ledden, offered other notes, including:

- Goffstein, Raskas, Pomerantz, Kraus & Sherman, ranked 52nd last year in a tie, did not submit current information;

- Moser & Marsalek, ranked 68th in a tie on the list published in Feburary 2012, filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2012 and joined with Brown & James in October 2012.

The list of firms also included six "Firms to Watch" that included SL Chapman, formerly Lakin Chapman and originally the Lakin Law Firm of Wood River. SL Chapman, with offices in Alton, St. Louis and Phoenix, has seven local attorneys. It was ranked 60th last year in a tie.

Others "to watch" and number of local attorneys:

- Affinity Law Group - 7;

- Cunningham, Vogel & Rost - 7;

- Reeg Lawyers - 7;

- Meyerkord & Meyerkord - 6; and

- Smith Amundsen - 6.