Service. Relationships. Time. Autonomy.
These were the words that surfaced in the 2010 conversations between two lawyers and friends – Kathy Holmes and Sheila Costin. They had first started practicing law together 17 years earlier. Trained by some of Northern Virginia’s best civil trial lawyers at the time, Kathy and Sheila honed their litigation skills in the Eastern District of Virginia’s “Rocket Docket” and Virginia’s state courts. The tenets of integrity, focus and hard work were common to both. Kathy and Sheila gratefully held on to what they had learned as their careers took them in new directions.
By 2010, they were ready to put their values and skills to work building a firm of their own. Four years later, they were joined by another skilled trial lawyer and friend who shared their values: Ellen Marcus.
To us, these words that inspired the formation of our firm mean:
Service. There are many jobs that serve others and make the world a better place. Our niche is in serving justice, meaning that we deploy the rule of law to advance our clients’ interests. We tell your story. We keep you informed. We give you guidance.
Relationships. In our firm, we value who we work with – our clients, our colleagues, our courts. In a professional world where contention is the name of the game, we aim to treat everyone with civility.
Time. The firm is established to handle only the cases where we can provide value to our clients. We wish to be active in cases that matter, and to focus on those cases. We do not take cases simply to fill our docket.
Autonomy. We decided to keep overhead low, because without high overhead, we have the flexibility to engage with clients on flexible terms.
2010 Sheila Costin and Kathy Holmes establish Holmes & Costin PLLC. The first office was a sublet space in Reston, Virginia. The firm soon moved to offices in Burke, Virginia.
2014 Ellen Marcus joined the firm, which was renamed Holmes Costin & Marcus PLLC. Ellen took charge of the beachhead office space in Alexandria, Virginia.
2015 The firm moves into combined space at its present location of 301 N. Fairfax Street. In some ways, it was a “return home” for Sheila and Kathy. Sheila started practicing law at Ross Marsh in an office across the street 23 years before. Kathy started as a clerk for a federal magistrate judge whose chambers were one block north on Fairfax Street. Ellen liked it because she can walk to work.