News & Events

LOS ANGELES – April 12, 2007 – Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLP (Glaser Weil), a Meritas Law Firms Worldwide global alliance member, has announced its Meritas recertification. As one of 200 Meritas member law firms worldwide, Glaser Weil achieved recertification after an exacting and thorough quality review of the Firm. Every alliance member must continue to meet exceptionally high standards in order to qualify for membership status and recertification. Glaser Weil is one of only two Meritas certified firms in Los Angeles.

“As a member of the Meritas network, our Firm is able provide clients with the highest caliber of legal services locally, nationally and globally on a fully coordinated basis,” said Barry E. Fink, senior partner at Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro, LLP, the Firm’s principal liaison with Meritas and a former member of the Meritas Board of Directors. “The rigorous recertification process ensures that every member Firm continues to adhere to uncompromising standards and provide clients with superior legal services and we are pleased to be recertified by Meritas,” he added.

Glaser Weil has the ability to provide seamless legal services and valuable additional benefits to clients with global business needs. From instant access to multi-national legal services in a global economy, coordinated legal expertise from a localized point of reference, to uncompromising client service, dependability and cost-effectiveness, Glaser Weil provides comprehensive legal services to meet each client’s unique requirements.

“The Meritas affiliation enables our firm to provide top quality, ‘on the ground’ legal representation for our clients coast to coast in the U.S., and literally anywhere in the world,” noted Fink. “Moreover, clients benefit by being charged local rates rather than ‘Wall Street’ rates for services. This type of global reach and cost effectiveness cannot be matched by the large mega firms without a similar association,” he added.

Every three years, Meritas firms must undergo a recertification process examining such factors as adherence to rigorous standards set by clients, the timeliness and quality of a firm’s client service and its professional conduct. This translates into such specifics as requiring common technology platforms, enabling clients to benefit from a multijurisdictional client management team and cross border practice groups, and that firms acknowledge Meritas client phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails within 24 hours. For international members of Meritas, it is required that firms employ English-speaking receptionists and after-hours messaging services or voicemail in English.

Meritas, an elite group and global alliance of business law firms delivering localized legal service of the highest quality on a fully coordinated basis, formed in 1990 to provide business clients with worldwide access to comprehensive legal services. Membership in Meritas is by invitation only, with only one firm added for each selected geographic marketplace and are ranked among the top in most cities. Today, with nearly 200 firms located in more than 60 countries and encompassing 5,700 lawyers, Meritas membership is continuing to grow by inviting like-minded firms worldwide to join for mutual benefit.