Cozen O’Connor Chief: Recession Means Time to ‘Spend Money’

Michael Heller thinks being a little boring is about to pay off.

Heller, the CEO of Cozen O’Connor, said the Philadelphia-based law firm purposely avoids the boom-bust recruiting cycle common among the industry’s largest players. Unlike many competitors, the firm also doesn’t pay out 100% of its profits to partners every year.

“We don’t want to be the firm that pays the highest salaries when times are great, terminates the associates when times are bad and then just keeps going through that cycle,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg Law. “We have always said to our partners ‘if you’re ...