Cleary Taps New Leader, Gerstenzang Becomes Senior Partner (1)

Manhattan capital markets lawyer Jeff Karpf is taking over as managing partner at Cleary Gottlieb, the law firm said Wednesday.

Karpf will replace Michael Gerstenzang, who has led Cleary for eight years, beginning in January. Gerstenzang is moving to a new senior partner position, the firm said.

Karpf is embracing Gerstenzang’s goal to get the firm back in the country’s top 20 by gross revenue, he said in an interview. Cleary has seen its position slide over the past decade, despite significant revenue gains, amid a race for scale among the industry’s biggest players.

“That’s a goal with an upward moving target, he said. “We’ve made strides but it is clear that we need to make more.”

Jeff Karpf

Photo: Cleary Gottlieb

Cleary—best known for mergers and acquisitions and antitrust work for clients such as Citigroup, Bank of New York, Broadcom, and Keurig Dr Pepper—was among the 35 largest US law firms by revenue last year, bringing in $1.7 billion. Karpf has spent more than 30 years at the firm, advising on initial public offerings for Cushman & Wakefield, J.Crew, and Travelers Property Casualty.

He wants to grow Cleary’s presence in New York by focusing on some of the most competitive practice areas, like mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and private funds. Partners in those practice groups are in high demand, with firms updating compensation systems to lure and retain top talent.

Cleary last year created a non-equity partner tier, a widely used tool for freeing up partner profits and retaining talent. It was one of the last remaining holdouts after seeing prominent Manhattan firms such as Paul Weiss and Cravath Swaine & Moore add the tier in recent years.

The firm promoted 26 lawyers to partner in January, up slightly from the previous year. Cleary also hired lawyers from other firms in non-equity partner positions, Karpf said.

Gerstenzang in his new role will focus on growing the firm’s private capital business and steering its technology investment. He oversaw the 2020 launch of the firm’s tech incubator ClearyX.

“Gross revenue is important because all law firms are investing more in technology and using it to innovate,” Karpf said. “Scale has some benefit for being able to make those kinds of investments.”

Revenue growth is also key to attracting partners from other firms, Karpf said. Cleary is looking to ramp up its partner hiring, including through group moves like its March addition of five intellectual property lawyers from Latham & Watkins.