Now, the headquarters for Fieger, Fieger, Schwartz & Kenney PC, on 10 Mile Road east of Evergreen Road, is getting a whole lot bigger. By December, the firm best known for defending assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian will have more than doubled its office space, with the completion of a 20,000-square-foot, $10 million addition.

The add-on to the existing 15,000-square-foot structure, under construction since August, will include a studio where firm principal Geoffrey Fieger can air television appearances and a mock courtroom to train attorneys and students. The offices will occupy a quarter-mile stretch.

"I'm a victim of my own success," Fieger quipped Tuesday, when asked why such an ambitious expansion is needed. "To appropriately serve my clients, I need more space and more support personnel."

The firm, which has 15 attorneys and 35 support workers, plans to add five more lawyers and another 15 support people.

The expansion - the fifth since Fieger's father, Bernard, moved the firm he founded in 1950 from Detroit's Cadillac Tower to Southfield in 1967 - speaks to the firm's achievements.

Fieger, whose father died in 1988, estimates his firm handles 750 to 1,000 cases at any given time, both civil and criminal. The firm takes 100 calls a day from people seeking legal representation, and accepts an average of one case a day, he said.

Asked about the secret of the Fieger legal machine's success, Geoffrey Fieger smiles.

"If I knew, I'd market it," he said.

Larry Dubin, a professor of law at University of Detroit Mercy, says Fieger's magic has been in creating a public image as a fierce fighter who gets results - without spending millions of dollars in advertising.

"Geoffrey Fieger has been extremely successful in the courtroom and has become one of the most successful attorneys in the country," Dubin said. "He has repeatedly obtained multi-million dollar verdicts. There aren't many lawyers who can be compared to him with respect to their success in the courtroom."

Fieger's firm, originally known as Fieger & Lee, has come a long way from its humble beginnings.

"When he came out here in the '60s, no offices were out here," Fieger said of his father's move to then-rural Southfield. A 1,500-square-foot house was converted to offices for Bernard Fieger and partner George Lee.

Other companies later turned neighboring homes along 10 Mile into offices. To make room for his law firm's expansions, Fieger has moved eight to 10 of those structures and donated them for use as homes in Detroit.

"We're slowly devouring 10 Mile," he said.

The latest expansion, which will make use of glass and mahogany or walnut finishes, will allow for the construction of a three-story, open atrium courtroom, two mock jury rooms and the television studio. Fieger, who appears on several shows, is a regular on the Fox network's "On the Record" news show.

Fieger said he purchased the bar from the now-closed Golden Mushroom Restaurant on 10 Mile to use as the firm's cafeteria.

The current addition to Fieger, Fieger, Schwartz & Kenney could be the last, since available land is dwindling. Fieger, who couldn't agree on a purchase price with the owner of a liquor store to the west of the firm, said he's more interested in preserving green space now.

If the firm decides to expand again, creativity will be key. Relocating is out of the question.

With it's central location to courts in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties and easy freeway access, the firm's headquarters is in the perfect spot, Fieger said.

And there's also a sentimental reason.

"My dad started here, I'm not moving," Fieger said.

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