Nate Webb
“We’re proving to clients and the legal community that a diverse and inclusive law firm can and will be an effective law firm.”
From a young age, co-founder of law firm Focal PLLC and Trove partner Nate possessed an intense motivation to build a successful career and life for himself and his family. Raised by his mother in Tacoma, Washington, he grew up without a lot of economic resources and imagined that one day, he would be a white collar professional and earn a good living. Nate knew that education represented his path to a more prosperous future, leading him to pursue his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington before attending law school at the University of Michigan.
Nate describes the early part of his career as “traditional”. During law school, he worked as a Summer Associate at leading international law firm Perkins Coie and after graduation, he joined Perkins full-time, focusing on securities law. Nate was grateful for the opportunities there, but early on he realized that spending his career at a big law firm wasn’t for him. While Perkins was a supportive place, he didn’t see himself pursuing the partner track and everything that came with it, including tying his worth to that singular outcome. He also couldn’t shake the stress and consternation that came from not seeing others at the firm who looked like him or had similar lived experiences. He found himself longing to surround himself with colleagues to whom he could better relate.
After a stint as a dot com entrepreneur, Nate became the Vice President of Corporate Development at WhitePages, Inc. and then served as WhitePages’ General Counsel. Around the same time, his former Perkins colleague Venkat Balasubramani decided to start his own private practice. Venkat quickly became one of Nate’s go-to resources for outside counsel. They became good friends and it wasn’t long before Venkat was pitching Nate on starting a law firm together. They shared similar values, as well as a vision of a firm that embraced work-life balance and offered an inclusive, welcoming environment where women and people of color would feel truly comfortable. Such firms are rare in the legal industry, including in progressive Seattle, and they felt confident that they could build one and prove to the broader legal and business communities that this new, inclusive model was more than effective.
In 2009, Nate and Venkat founded Focal, a boutique, full-service law firm, with specialities in technology and intellectual property. Nate jokes that when they started Focal, Venkat’s dining room table was their “world headquarters”. In the beginning, their main challenge was growth. They began with just a few clients and could only afford to employ a part-time contract lawyer (who is now a partner at the firm!). In addition to offering diverse perspectives, Nate and Venkat grew Focal by embracing pragmatism and prioritizing building rapport and genuine relationships with their clients. As they scaled, they hired great lawyers who, in Nate’s words, are “even better people”. Many of their attorneys have held “big firm” and/or in-house roles, including at startups and smaller companies. As a result, Focal is uniquely positioned to understand the inherent risks faced by companies operating in high growth or developing industries. Unlike larger firms that are laser-focused on minimizing risk and maximizing billable hours, Focal strives to help its clients make informed decisions based on what matters most to them, including their risk tolerance. And with more reasonable rates than large firms, its services are more accessible to the growing companies that most need them.
Focal now employs a diverse team of 12 attorneys and four staff, with Nate leading the advisory and commercial transactions practice area and Venkat spearheading the firm’s litigation and disputes services. Women lead three of Focal’s five practice areas. The firm serves 50 to 80 clients each month and continues to grow -- a big difference from the days when Nate counted their clients on one hand.
Reflecting on his professional journey, Nate is most proud of co-founding a successful law firm composed predominantly of women and people of color. He and Venkat have proven that there’s more than one way to build and operate a successful professional services firm. He also reflects on the many clients Focal has served, many of whom began their startup journeys from their own dining room tables, just like Nate and Venkat did. He thinks about the role that Focal played in helping them navigate legal risk, contracting, and other business operations “watch outs” from their very early days. Many of those clients are now much larger companies with real offices, and they’ve told Nate and Venkat that Focal’s guidance and support was instrumental in their success. Hearing this gives Nate tremendous validation. There is no doubt that Focal walks the walk when it comes to truly embracing the power of diversity and inclusivity and providing effective legal support.
Contact Nate
LinkedIn Website Email: nate (at) focallaw (dot) com
Email hello@trovecommunity.com or contact us for an introduction.
