The Optics - Boies Schiller Is Passing the Torch to a New Generation and What That Can Mean for Other Law Firms

 After years on a downward trajectory, Boies Schiller has been on an upswing. A symbol of that is for 2022 the important metric of Profits Per Equity Partner was up 13% and for 2023 the estimate is a 20% uptick. The dramatic partner flight has halted. There will be collection of big money.

So the timing - and timing is almost everything - is right for co-founder David Boies to step down as leader but remain with the firm as partner. The legacy is restored. Maybe there won't be the gush ethos of how he was positioned and packaged by BusinessWeek in 2015 but there will be praise for him as a litigation powerhouse.

Boies is 82, much older than Jones Day's Stephen Brogan who stepped down at age 70 and Dentons' Joe Andrew who ended role as global chair when he was 62. At Paul, Weiss Brad Karp who is 63 didn't step down in May of this year. He was voted back in. But since Karp, hard-wired in progressive politics, has plenty of runway in other careers it is doubtful if he will hang around Paul, Weiss even into his 70s.

That's why the optics could be extraordinary at Boies Schiller if the torch is really passed on to a new generation. And not just leadership titles changed. The Wall Street Journal reports that the two top contenders to succeed Boies to be voted in by partners next month are:

Matthew Schwartz, age 46

Sigrid McCawley, age 51.

If an authentic generational shift would happen, especially when Boies Schiller is experiencing a comeback, that law firm could begin major changes in everything from branding to operations. Depending on how successful it is in Profits Per Equity Partner, high-profile wins, nailing big name accounts and poaching talent what it is doing and not doing could generate fresh templates for other law firms. 

Overall throughout the legal sector the torch then could be passing to a new generation, at least in mindset and policies. Structural change such as mutating from pyramid to diamond could be able to piggyback on that updating of what had essentially been a closed system. "Lockstep" bears witness to that rigidity. The more differentiation the more a law firm can have the edge. 

At age 41, Vincent Guglielmotti became CEO of Brown Rudnick (which had represented Johnny Depp). Interestingly, in a Business Insider interview Paul, Weiss chair Karp brought up that at internal town meetings associates are speaking up. Ever since Dentons launched consulting services the public relations media, such as O'Dwyer's, is paying as much attention to that law firm as the legal media. Here is coverage of Dentons Global Advisors by O'Dwyer's editor-in-chief Kevin McCauley from three days ago. 

During this succession transition, Boies Schiller has to focus on managing optics. There is a gold mine of positive publicity to be earned - or opportunities for myriad constituencies, ranging from clients to media, to write off the brand as a "was." Isn't the expectation for a different "is?" 

In most cases you have only one shot in communications. Jane Genova is a communications coach and content-creator. Complimentary consultation (please text 203-468-8579 or email janegenova374@gmail.com)


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