At least three Am Law 200 firms in the span of a week have expanded their C-suite staff to oversee strategy or client relations, showing firms are still taking a long-term view on their business, writes Dan Packel in The American Lawyer.
The moves to expand C-suite staff in a tumultuous period show that firms are still looking to take a long-term view on their business amid the immediate pressures of the pandemic and associated recession.
While an expanded C-suite appears to be gaining steam in Big Law, Jennifer Johnson, CEO of law firm business consultancy Calibrate, warned that individuals in newly created C-suite roles can sometimes struggle to meet their aims.
“Oftentimes when it happens, it occurs outside of the existing org chart, and the person comes in without resources or accountability,” she said. “They have a remit by leaders to look at something that straddles all the different functions within a law firm, but they ultimately don’t have a team to implement changes, and they are stepping on the toes of those in roles already.”
