Offit Kurman is a full-service law firm founded in 1987 by brothers Maurice and Ted Offit and their childhood friend Howard Kurman, who started as a small Baltimore-area practice with a plan to grow beyond its suburban roots.
Nearly four decades later, the firm has grown into an AmLaw 200 ranked institution with more than 280 attorneys, offices across ten states and the District of Columbia, and annual revenue reported at approximately $167 million.
For privately held businesses and high-net-worth families looking for a firm that covers a wide range of legal needs under one roof, Offit Kurman is worth understanding in detail.
Key Takeaways
- Offit Kurman operates across 30+ practice areas from a network of 20 offices, serving privately held businesses and high-net-worth individuals.
- The firm ranks #184 on the Am Law 200 and #171 on the NLJ 500 with roughly $167 million in annual revenue.
- Its transparent, performance-based attorney compensation model distinguishes it from most traditional law firm structures.
Firm Background and Growth
The firm's origin story is unusual. Maurice Offit, Ted Offit, and Howard Kurman had known each other since childhood.
When they decided to build a firm together, they already had the interpersonal foundation that often derails law firm partnerships.
As Maurice Offit described it in a 2017 interview: the issues that typically arise between partners had largely been worked through before the firm even opened its doors.
The growth strategy was deliberate. Rather than staying confined to the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills where it started, the firm chose to expand across Maryland first, then push into neighboring states.
That decision to branch outward rather than build upward in one market shaped everything that came after.
The firm expanded into New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina, contributing to a reported 50% growth in attorney headcount over a relatively short window.
Today Offit Kurman operates offices in California, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington D.C.
Who They Serve
The firm's primary focus is privately held businesses and high-net-worth individuals and families.
That focus has been consistent since the firm's founding and shapes how services are structured and delivered.
Clients aren't typically Fortune 500 corporations with in-house legal departments.
They tend to be business owners, entrepreneurs, family enterprises, and individuals managing significant personal wealth who need outside counsel with both depth and range.
The pitch Offit Kurman makes to this audience is straightforward: access to large-firm expertise at more personalized service levels and competitive rates.
Whether that holds up in practice depends on the specific office, the practice group, and the individual attorney, but the firm's positioning around this idea has been consistent across its marketing and client communications for years.
Practice Areas
With more than 30 practice areas, Offit Kurman covers a wide spectrum of legal needs.
The breadth is a selling point for business owner clients who want one firm to handle multiple matters. The major categories include:
| Category | Practice Areas |
|---|---|
| Business & Corporate | Business law and transactions, M&A, venture capital, private equity, government contracting, cannabis law |
| Real Estate & Construction | Commercial real estate, construction law, community associations, landlord representation, zoning and land use |
| Litigation | Commercial and business litigation, mass toxic torts, arbitration and dispute resolution, appellate |
| Intellectual Property | Patents, trademarks, copyrights, technology and telecom law |
| Personal & Family | Estate planning, trusts and probate, family law, divorce and custody, immigration |
| Finance & Restructuring | Banking and finance, bankruptcy and reorganization, creditors' rights, taxation |
| Specialized | Labor and employment, life sciences and healthcare, government and regulatory, energy and environment, admiralty and aviation |
The construction and A/E (architecture and engineering) practice has particular depth.
According to the AIA Trust, about 95% of Offit Kurman's construction law caseload is dedicated to A/E construction work, with 50% of that focused on errors and omissions defense.
This makes the firm a more specialized resource for architects and engineers than its broad general-practice positioning might suggest.
Compensation Model and Culture
One of the more distinctive things about Offit Kurman is how it pays its attorneys. Most law firms operate with opaque compensation structures that leave associates and even senior attorneys guessing about bonuses.
Offit Kurman uses a transparent, formula-based model that ties bonuses directly to measurable metrics: hours billed, client origination, legal production, and cross-practice referrals. Attorneys know in advance how their compensation is calculated.
Current and former employees on Glassdoor confirm this. One reviewer noted that management shares all origination and billable data firm-wide, with no guessing involved.
The firm scores 2.7 out of 5 stars on Glassdoor from 98 anonymous reviews, with 42% of employees saying they would recommend the firm to a friend.
That's a mixed picture, and several reviewers flagged concerns about culture and leadership at specific offices.
The compensation model draws consistent praise; the broader work environment gets more varied feedback depending on the location and department.
The firm describes its culture as entrepreneurial, a word that shows up repeatedly in its own communications and in attorney reviews.
The performance-based compensation structure supports that framing, since it rewards attorneys who build their own books of business rather than just billing hours inside someone else's client relationships.
Rankings and Recognition
Offit Kurman's current industry standing is well-documented across several major legal rankings:
- #184 on the Am Law 200 (American Lawyer's ranking of top-grossing U.S. law firms)
- #171 on the NLJ 500 (National Law Journal's ranking of largest U.S. firms by headcount)
- Listed among Law360's 400 Largest U.S. Law Firms
- Ranked in Chambers USA 2025 across several practice areas
- Multiple attorneys recognized on Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists in New Jersey, Maryland, and other states
- Mansfield Rule certification for diversity and inclusion practices
Several attorneys at the firm have received individual recognitions. In 2024, six attorneys were named to New Jersey Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists. Meghan McCulloch, a practice group leader in Estates and Trusts, was named to The Daily Record's 2024 Estate and Trust Law Power List.
Geographic Footprint
Offit Kurman currently operates approximately 20 offices.
The firm's headquarters are in Bethesda, Maryland, with additional significant offices in Philadelphia, New York City (590 Madison Avenue), Tysons Corner (Virginia), Harrisburg, and Charlotte.
The firm has also been expanding its Atlanta presence, recently adding litigators to serve business clients in the Southeast. California and South Carolina represent its furthest geographic reach from its East Coast base.
This footprint matters for clients with operations in multiple states.
A business owner in Maryland who also has real estate holdings in New Jersey or a construction project in North Carolina can work with attorneys from the same firm rather than coordinating across separate outside counsel relationships.
What to Consider Before Hiring Offit Kurman
No law firm review is complete without looking at the less flattering parts of the record.
Some attorneys and employees have raised concerns about firm culture at specific offices, and Glassdoor reviews indicate the experience varies significantly by location and leadership.
Reviews that mention the Baltimore area in particular describe a more mixed reputation among local attorneys at other firms.
The firm's broad practice area coverage also means quality varies by specialty. The construction and A/E practice has documented depth.
Other areas may not have the same concentration of senior expertise depending on the regional office.
Any prospective client should ask about the specific attorney team and their track record in the relevant practice area, not just the firm's overall profile.
The transparent compensation model is a genuine differentiator, but it also means attorneys are incentivized to build their own practices.
For clients, this can be positive since it creates motivated, business-minded attorneys. It can also mean higher turnover if attorneys leave to open their own shops or join competitors once they've built a client base.
Conclusion
Offit Kurman is a well-established regional firm that has expanded steadily since 1987 into a multi-state practice covering most areas of law that privately held businesses and affluent families are likely to need.
Its transparent compensation model, entrepreneurial culture, and broad geographic reach make it a logical option for clients who want a single outside counsel relationship rather than multiple specialized firms.