Four More Years! For This Big Law Chair

Brad Butwin, chair of O’Melveny & Myers, was just re-elected as chair of the 700-lawyer law firm after four and a half years at the helm.

His new term extends his lifeline as chairman to January 31, 2021.

Big Law Business took the opportunity to catch up with Butwin in a quick phone call, which he squeezed into his busy schedule on Thursday afternoon.

Butwin said that it’s been pretty smooth sailing, at least from his view at the top.

“I sleep pretty well,” said Butwin, when asked what issues keep him up at night these days. “I think the firm has settled into a nice rhythm. There is nothing I can point to and say, ‘This is problematic or this is troubling.’”

If we spoke in 2011, we may have gotten a different answer. At the time, he was a candidate for chair and sources told the local press (me) that divisions lingered between West Coast litigators and East Coast transactional attorneys from the firm’s 2002 merger with New York private equity firm O’Sullivan.

Here’s a sweet clip from back in my glory days at the Daily Journal in Los Angeles:

Some West Coast litigators felt New York finance lawyers were being overcompensated and given too much influence, a perception that contributed to some departures, [one] ex-partner said.

In 2011, Butwin was one of three candidates for the chair position, the other two being M. Randall Oppenheimer in Los Angeles and Thomas M. McCoy in Washington, D.C.

In the end, Butwin was viewed as the right choice, in part because his qualities brought out the best of both worlds of a firm divided: He was both in New York, and a litigator.

“I don’t know if I agree that there were divisions the way you describe it, but clearly there was a merger and there was some really good things and some not so good things,” said Butwin.

Today, though, things seem to be clicking, he said.

“I would say that we are clearly working together very well and the partnership is cohesive,” said Butwin. “We are working on some key client relationships which include diversified teams working across groups in different geographies.”

The results show: In the most recent American Lawyer ranking, the firm’s profits per partner increased by 10.3 percent from the previous year, to $1.76 million. And it represents corporations from Warner Bros. to Halliburton in disputes, while advising on large value deals: Earlier this year, O’Melveny advised Alaska Air as the winning $4 billion bidder for Virgin America.

“I believe the firm is as unified as we’ve ever seen it,” Butwin said.

So that’s the official word for now. We’ll check back in with Butwin in another four years.