After practicing in a mid-size, traditional law firm for 10 years, Scott Levine saw an opportunity to create a new model for the practice of law — one that would leverage new technologies and develop law practice management techniques.
At first, Levine recruited attorneys to help service the growing group of entrepreneurs and business owners who were looking for a more dynamic, nimble and less traditional law firm. Over time, the firm attracted established attorneys in multiple cities seeking an alternative to the business models of more traditional law firms.
“This growth allowed the management team at AEGIS Law to focus on the success and happiness of our lawyers — both personally and professionally — which has become the key to our success over the past decade,” the firm said. “In short, we’ve separated the idea of owning and operating a law business from maintaining a law practice. It’s very difficult to be a great entrepreneur and great attorney. And many lawyers come to realize this over time. When recruiting, we can now point to many lawyers who have joined our firm and successfully grown their practices by leveraging our firm’s talent and other resources — which allows them to focus on growing their personal law practice, the creation of a succession plan or having more work-life harmony than traditional and Big Law can provide.”
Levine, the founder and managing member at AEGIS, has built a reputation as one of the few attorneys in St. Louis who has been involved in the venture community for over 20 years. Companies come to Levine to leverage his vision and creativity, particularly when it comes to complex business and legal issues.
In addition to AEGIS Law, Levine was co-founder of a venture fund that has invested in dozens of early-stage companies in the food and life science industries. As a business owner, Scott has a reputation among his staff, attorneys and peers as a culture-first leader. The limited turnover at AEGIS Law is evidence of the work of AEGIS Law’s leadership to put the needs of employees first.
“In the early years, we took substantial personal and financial risk to convince prominent lawyers in the second half of their careers that joining our law firm made sense for their futures,” Levine said. “We believed very strongly in the vision for the future of our business and legal industry. But we didn’t have a track record of success. In hindsight, this was a tremendously risky proposition for our personal and professional reputations and our business. Now, having been in business for almost two decades with almost 50 attorneys and staff and offices in multiple cities, we merely need to look around our firm to see that the risks we took have been validated.”
Levine serves as president of the St. Louis Chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a nonprofit peer learning organization with over 16,000 members worldwide. He is also past president of Central Reform Congregation, recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the 20 most innovative Jewish organizations in the country.
