Orlando Casares's blog

One of the most exciting and personally gratifying parts of my job in my role as the Company’s Principal is that I get to really know the movers, shakers and rainmakers of each of our member firms. 

It is no secret that over time these firms have reached notoriety and enviable reputations in their individual jurisdictions through a common recipe for success: a relentles commitment to excellence and a passion to reach the top in their markets through enduring hard work.  

This common trait was once again made crystal clear to me during our recent FLI NET Partners Conference in Barcelona (Nov 19-21, 2009), where twenty-five of our partners from around the world took time from their very hectic schedules and traveled from as far away as Korea and the United States, and from Kyrgyzstan and Belarus to join our Executive Management for two days of plenary working meetings and social events to strengthen the bonds that make FLI’s compelling business proposition such a success story.  

As we soon approach our ten year milestone, I’m reminded of our early days and how the common storyline has withstood the test of time:  a network of best-in-country, independent law firms willing to abide by a common set of values, top quality standards, and obsession to serve our clients like no other firm would be willing to do and at a rate that is significantly below market compared to the, arrogant, over billed, mega size law firms. 

Having just crossed the 35 worldwide law firm threshold and just opened our first partner firm in South America (Brazil), FLI is truly a global player with a very attractive future for the upcoming New Year.  It is  with this in mind that I would like to wish all our FLI NET Partners and our extended family of clients and colleagues a wonderful New Year 2010.

One of the most gratifying aspects of my position as the president of FLI is that I get to travel constantly throughout the Network and get to experience firsthand the wonder of the global powerhouse that we have created since our humble beginnings.

During my interactions with each of our FLI NET Partners, the one question I'm most frequently asked is "how do you do it, Orlando?" Meaning how do I keep up with the long hours, endless travel, time zone differences which require that I never sleep, cultural and individual characteristic differences which make it an art form to communicate in a  way I'm understood without being perceived as lacking sensitivity, etc.  At first, this question always made me uneasy since no matter what the answer, it tended to make me look like I was someone more special than my Partners --- certainly not the case.  After years of reflection and after witnessing day by day how the Network grew to its present impressive size, I've come to the conclusion the answer has always been actually quite simple: "I do what I love and I love what I do."  And I believe this shows in all my dealings with the individual FLI NET Partners, whether it is trying to secure a mandate for the individual country; staying current on any one given transaction requiring my personal input to the client; flying all over the globe to support an event hosted by one of our Partners, even if this means flying all night; or just making sure project management is done in a way that we are all paid on a timely manner, the passion is all the same.

With more lawyers already in our Network than some of the biggest names in the business and growing at an exciting rate to host more countries than even the biggest and highest ranked law firm in our industry, our prospects have never been so bright. I’m really looking forward to hosting our eleventh semi-annual, Partners Conference in Barcelona later on this week. Our Executive Management will be reporting on a number of cutting-edge initiatives we have undertaken, not to mention welcoming six new FLI NET Partners to our family of law firm, and that is always exciting.

All the best,

Orlando J. Casares