A changing world for Big Law COOs

Chief operating officers at law firms are increasingly expected to focus on clients as the demands of the job shift.

New COOs have been appointed at several large firms since June. The executives, like in other industries, oversee departments ranging from technology to marketing.

Some of the newly hired operations leaders also are prioritizing clients—landing and keeping them—duties that have historically fallen outside COOs’ purview. Firms are now looking for operating chiefs who have experience working at the types of companies they want to serve.

The jobs come with unique challenges. Many law firm COOs are not lawyers, which can make it difficult to win partner buy-in that’s crucial to making decisions. It also means that ethics rules prevent them from earning equity in the profits they’re charged with helping to grow.

“At most firms today, partners rule the roost,” said Robert Kamins , who was COO at Lewis Brisbois for a nearly three-year stretch ending in 2018.

“They have the clients, they have the business, and that makes it challenging for any COO. You’re not practicing as a lawyer. You don’t have the same controls a COO would have at a public or private company.”

NYC Mayor Adams Turns to Elon Musk's Go-to Lawyer Alex Spiro

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has hired high-profile Quinn Emanuel partner Alex Spiro as he faces federal bribery, fraud and campaign finance charges unsealed Thursday, a source familiar with the matter said.

Spiro is one of the best-known lawyers in the country, regularly representing Elon Musk, including in his $44 billion takeover of what was then Twitter Inc. He’s also represented celebrities including Jay-Z and Meghan Thee Stallion.

Spiro also represented Alec Baldwin on charges he faced as a result of a fatal shooting during the production of the film Rust that were later dismissed during trial.

Adams is also represented by WilmerHale partners Brendan McGuire and Boyd Johnson III, the New York Times reported. McGuire, who returned to WilmerHale in 2023 after serving as chief counsel to Adams, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spiro in a statement lashed out at federal agents who searched the mayor’s official residence.

“Federal agents appeared this morning at Gracie Mansion in an effort to create a spectacle (again) and take Mayor Adams’ phone (again),” Spiro said in a statement reported by Bloomberg. “He has not been arrested and looks forward to his day in court.“

John Quinn Goes Toe to Toe With Other Big Law Leaders in Podcast

Welcome back to the Big Law Business column. I’m Roy Strom, and today we look at a law firm leader who moonlights as a podcast host. Sign up to receive this column in your Inbox on Thursday mornings.

I’ve asked Big Law leaders all kinds of questions for more than a decade. Speaking this week with Quinn Emanuel’s founding partner, I tried a brand-new query: “What’s the twinkle in John Quinn’s eye?”

Forgive me. The answer didn’t elicit much. But I had a reason (or an excuse) for asking: Quinn recently put the same question to the head of the world’s largest law firm.

Quinn, the Los Angeles litigator at the helm of Quinn Emanuel, in recent months has taken on the role of a quasi journalist. He interviews Big Law leaders on his podcast, “Law, Disrupted,” which launched in 2022 and covers a range of legal topics. He’s hosted Marc Kasowitz , Brad Karp , and Jon Ballis, who run Kasowitz Benson Torres, Paul Weiss, and Kirkland & Ellis, respectively.

The episodes offer a rare peek into how Big Law leaders speak to each other—or at least how they converse with a microphone in front of them. For a reporter covering the business of law, it feels like a slight shift in the traditional media landscape. Law firm leaders are incredibly cautious in how and where they discuss their business, and they’ve rarely turned to new outlets like podcasts. Now, they have a new platform, a friendly space offered by a peer.

Read more here.

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