Richard Koster Legal Associates is a law firm in Boston that has special expertise in immigra¬ tion law, since Richard worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for several years before completing his law degree. At the present time the firm is involved in all kinds of civil law prosecutions and defenses, including but by no means limited to immigration cases. Acknowledging that the law business is a jungle, Richard has retained your services to advise the firm as to their future competitive strategy.

Richard is fundamentally opposed to “ambulance chasing,” does not like dealing with criminals, and finds divorce proceedings unsettling. On the other hand, he does enjoy property transactions, antitrust proceedings, and dealing with immigrants who are seeking permanent resident status. In the latter area, particularly, Richard has an advantage over most other law¬ yers because of the knowledge he gained of immigration procedures while working for the INS and because of the contacts he still has there. In the Boston area many high-technology firms, as well as the various universities and colleges, seek Richard’s assistance in getting work permits and resident alien papers for foreign nationals with special skills and expertise.

Currently, Richard feels he is being spread too thinly over several areas of law. He has to spend a great deal of time reading and conducting computerized searches whenever a case comes along that is in an area he has not considered for a while. His firm makes plenty of money, he says, but he feels that he could make at least as much and work shorter hours if he had a clearly defined competitive strategy.

(a) Which of the generic strategies do you think that this law firm should adopt, and why’

(b) What product, price, and promotion decisions should be considered in the execution of the strategy you have suggested above?