Like most law firms, K&L Gates LLP faces headwinds. The recession has cut demand for many corporate legal services, including work on mergers, real estate and corporate finance. In turn, profits at firms across the country have plummeted, forcing many of them to fire attorneys, freeze salaries and shut offices.

Peter Kalis, chairman of the 1,800-lawyer K&L firm, has felt the pain first hand. He cut costs sharply this year, including firing about 40 attorneys and 200 other staff members.

But the 59-year-old West Virginia native -- a Rhodes Scholar, Yale Law School graduate and clerk for Supreme Court Justice Byron White -- hasn't curtailed his expansion ambitions.

In the last two years, he has overseen mergers with firms in Chicago, North Carolina and Texas, and he has opened offices abroad, including in Singapore, Frankfurt and Dubai. His Pittsburgh law firm now ranks among the nation's largest, with 33 offices around the globe.

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Gates Gains While Other Law Firms Suffer - WSJ.com



K&L Gates Chairman Peter Kalis, pictured at the firm's New York office recently, has cut costs sharply but hasn't curtailed expansion ambitions. T.J. Kirkpatrick for The Wall Street Journal