Shulman’s secret to his legal firm’s growth? Nothing really new here: Create a work environment that allows people opportunities, hire competent people, do an excellent job and keep your name out in the community.

‘‘Our biggest source of clients is doing a good job,” said Shulman, 65. ‘‘Our clients talk with others about whether we did a good job, and we get referrals based on that.”

Shulman’s firm is indicative of the changes going on in Maryland’s legal landscape. As larger law firms move their headquarters out of state or get swallowed up, locally owned firms pick up the slack. And many are growing nicely.

Miles & Stockbridge, a Baltimore firm that dates to 1932, has become the largest firm based in Maryland with 210 attorneys, up from 166 in 2000, according to the National Law Journal’s latest annual list of the nation’s biggest firms.

In recent years, Miles took over that position from Venable, which moved its headquarters from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., and Piper & Marbury, which is now under global law giant DLA Piper. Both Venable and Piper still have major presences in Maryland.

Linowes and Blocher, a Bethesda firm dating to 1956, has grown to be the second largest headquartered in Montgomery County with 62 lawyers, according to published reports.

Success in the legal industry, perhaps more than others, still comes down to relationships, said John B. Frisch, chairman of Miles & Stockbridge.

‘‘Doing an extremely good job for clients is huge,” Frisch said. ‘‘We strive hard to understand our clients’ business.”

The importance of community activity, such as serving on boards and commissions, can’t be overstated, Shulman said. Building a ‘‘culture” at the firm to attract and retain excellent lawyers is also a key goal.

‘‘Lawyers today aren’t always concerned about working at the biggest firms,” Shulman said. ‘‘They want a good quality of life. They want to find the right fit. If you find a place where you fit, you will do a better job for your clients and your firm.”

Community work extends to many pro bono hours that don’t make the headlines, said David A. Pordy, managing shareholder — essentially CEO — of Shulman Rogers.

‘‘That has always been a part of our identification,” Pordy, 56, said. ‘‘The image of attorneys takes a beating at times, but lawyers do so much for this community and society in general.”

Few large firmsin Montgomery in 1970s

Less than a year after Shulman — a native of Washington, D.C., who graduated from Georgetown University Law Center — started his sole practice, Donald R. Rogers joined as an associate and eventually became a partner in 1975. Rogers had worked for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and had a law degree from Georgetown himself, as well as an accounting degree from Hunter College in New York.

Pordy, who became managing shareholder in 1987, joined the firm in 1974. He earned his law degree at George Washington University and also has a degree in history from Pennsylvania State University.

In the early 1970s, there were few big firms in the county, with the largest having fewer than 10 lawyers, Shulman said.

While some focused on cases such as personal injury and divorces, Shulman concentrated on business, including commercial leases and real estate transactions. Along the way, the firm attracted key people from larger firms and branched out into different areas, such as antitrust, telecommunications, securities enforcement, biotechnology and intellectual property.

‘‘We were trying to be a business firm to serve the growing business needs in Montgomery County,” said Shulman, who has won awards such as the Rockville Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and Leadership Montgomery’s Leader of the Year. ‘‘Today, we have a personal practice, but we also have a very broad practice.”

Shulman Rogers even competes with much larger District firms on the more complex cases, Pordy said.

‘‘We’re small by comparison to [District firms], but with the type of work we do, we don’t take a back seat to those firms,” said Pordy, who has won the Bar Association of Montgomery County’s Chairman of the Year award. ‘‘We do very complex corporate litigation, and our clients enjoy the same quality of work at 20 [percent] to 50 percent lower fees than the D.C. firms.”

‘We grow fromexisting practices’

Miles & Stockbridge has been on the law journal’s annual list of the nation’s 250 biggest law firms since at least the 1980s, Frisch said. The firm also ranks high for employee satisfaction, among the top 6 percent of firms nationally as a place to work in American Lawyer’s annual survey of midlevel associates since 2003.

Miles & Stockbridge has had offices in Rockville and Frederick since the 1980s, which is part of the growth strategy, said Frisch, who has been with the firm since 1983.

‘‘We essentially were following some of our clients to those cities,” Frisch said. ‘‘We work with existing lawyers there. We don’t tend to move people in from out of the area. We grow from existing practices.”

About two years ago, Miles & Stockbridge opened an office in the University of Maryland, Baltimore, BioPark just a few blocks from its headquarters to house its fledgling biotechnology practice.

‘‘That was done to better understand the business,” Frisch said. ‘‘Our attorneys meet with scientists and others in those companies on a daily basis.”

Miles has offices in several other Maryland cities, as well as McLean, Va.

Shulman Rogers has led suburban Maryland firms on the Washington Business Journal’s list of the largest metropolitan D.C. law firms for at least the last several years. Shulman was ranked 52nd last year, up from 59th place in 2004.

Linowes and Blocher, which also has offices in Frederick and Annapolis, rose from the 74th slot in 2004 to 70th last year.

Lerch, Early & Brewer of Bethesda was 89th last year. By next month, Lerch Early will be up to 50 lawyers, having added nine in recent weeks, executives said.

Prince George’s County’s largest firm on the list in 2004 was DeCaro, Doran, Siciliano, Gallagher & DeBlasis in Lanham, with 22 lawyers. The firm, which also has offices in Queenstown and Fairfax, Va., was not on the list last year.

Besides adding lawyers, Shulman Rogers’ revenues have increased each year for the past two decades, Pordy said. Another factor that aids the firm’s growth is employing a structured business approach to operations, he said.

‘‘We make significant investments in lateral talent,” Pordy said. ‘‘We grow in areas where we weren’t a force before.”

The pay structure involves generous merit bonuses in which seniority does not play a role, Pordy said.

While Shulman Rogers has its main office on Rockville Pike just south of Montrose Road, the firm also fields a downtown Rockville office. Growth has led it to plan a move to the larger space by 2009 in the Park Potomac mixed-use development at Interstate 270 and Montrose.

Competition frombigger firms

As some national firms such as Venable have moved their headquarters out of Maryland, other deep pockets have entered various parts of the state.

Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll of Philadelphia, which has had an office in Baltimore since 1992, opened another Maryland office in Bethesda about a year ago to focus on real estate matters there. The Bethesda operation is led by Roger Winston, who formerly worked for Linowes and Blocher.

With $243 million in revenue, Ballard ranked 100th in American Lawyer’s latest list of the largest firms nationally according to annual revenues.

Venable, which has offices in Baltimore, Rockville and Towson, plans to move its Baltimore location to a larger 150,000-square-foot space on Pratt Street next year.

The strong team culture and long history in the region helps Miles & Stockbridge — which is not on American Lawyer’s Top 100 list — in the face of competition from bigger players, Frisch said.

‘‘It comes down again to understanding clients’ business,” Frisch said. ‘‘We have to give them more value.”

Other Montgomery firms, including Linowes and Lerch Early, have branched out to handle more complex cases.

Pordy said he doesn’t really view other firms as cutthroat competitors, but more as ‘‘another member of the bar association.”

‘‘There seems to be civil respect here,” Pordy said, ‘‘at least more so than what I’ve heard from friends in New York.”