Establishment of the Firm
Keil & Correa LLP is in its 32nd year of service, and throughout this time has concentrated in labor relations and employment law and litigation on behalf of management. Don T. Carmody and Ernest J. Collazo established the Firm as Carmody & Collazo on November 1, 1991. The name of the Firm became Collazo & Mish LLP on March 1, 1996, when Risa Mish, who had become a partner in 1995, became a name partner, and became Collazo Carling & Mish LLP on March 1, 1997, upon the arrival of Francis Carling, who had previously been a senior partner and the head of the labor and employment law group at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts. On March 6, 2000, the Firm added Tonianne Florentino as its fourth partner. On January 1, 2007, John P. Keil became its fifth partner. On January 22, 2010, the name of the Firm changed to Collazo Florentino & Keil LLP. Thereafter, the name was changed to Collazo & Keil LLP, when Toniannne Florentino left the firm. Prior to the establishment of the Firm, Mr. Collazo, as well as Ms. Mish and Ms. Florentino, were with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where Mr. Collazo was a partner for ten years.
The Founding Rationale
The Firm was founded as a boutique firm, staffed with exceptional legal talent priced at competitive rates, to adapt to the evolving needs of law firm clients, who require an increasingly streamlined and efficient approach to the provision of legal services. This rationale is even more valid today than when the Firm was founded.
The Firm has always measured the quality of its advice, work product, and client service against the standard of larger corporate law firms. Our lower overhead and staffing philosophy, as well as our expertise in our areas of concentration, lets us deliver that level of quality at significant cost savings to our clients. Assignments are staffed in the leanest possible fashion: many assignments can largely be accomplished by a single attorney, or by an attorney with minimal partner supervision, and many inquiries can be answered with a direct response rather than a research memorandum. This lean staffing approach, combined with the fact that the Firm's hourly billing rates are, on average, 25-40% less than those charged by large corporate law firm competitors, results in substantial savings for clients, without any diminution in the quality of legal services rendered.
