Six prominent law firms will welcome new leaders in 2025 as optimism runs high across the legal industry.
The new bosses are tasked with steering their firms in an increasingly competitive market that has pushed legal leaders to rethink longstanding strategies. They have big shoes to fill, with some replacing longtime leaders and one following in the footsteps of a well-known trial lawyer at the firm he founded.
The stakes are high: An uptick in demand this year and the possible return of big ticket M&A and transactions work has firms angling for a boom in 2025.
Boies Schiller Flexner: Matthew Schwartz
Star litigator David Boies is set to hand over the reins at the law firm he founded. Matthew Schwartz takes over Jan. 1 after a series of false starts in the leadership transition and questions about the litigation firm’s path forward.
Schwartz, 47, is a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who has served as co-managing partner of the firm since 2020. He was tapped to succeed the 84-year-old Boies, who signaled he wouldn’t seek reelection.
The transition marks the end of questions surrounding Boies Schiller’s succession plans, which twice previously unraveled with supposed heirs apparent heading for the door. The firm appears to have stabilized after seeing headcount and revenue decline.
Boies, who keeps an active caseload, will remain at the firm as a member of its executive committee. He’s representing Delta Airlines in its suit against Crowdstrike and Microsoft for damages related to a mass outage this past summer. He also recently advised David Jones, the former bankruptcy judge in Texas accused of improperly concealing a romantic relationship with a local attorney.
DLA Piper: Charles Severs
Charles Severs is set to step into the role of managing partner and global co-CEO at DLA Piper on Jan. 1. The London-based lawyer will serve alongside Frank Ryan, the New York partner who was elected to a second co-CEO role in early 2023.
Severs, an M&A lawyer, topped a field of competitors for the job that included Paris partner Stéphane Lemarchand. He has held several leadership roles at the firm since 2003, when he joined from Herbert Smith Freehills.
DLA Piper is the third-largest US law firm by gross revenue, bringing in more than $3.8 billion in revenue in 2023, according to data from The American Lawyer. The firm is structured as a Swiss verein, which generally is a loose affiliation of global offices that often do not pool profits.
Severs succeeds Simon Levine, who has led the firm for 10 years and will stay on in a new strategic innovation role.
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld: Abid Qureshi and Daniel Walsh
Longtime Akin Gump leader Kim Koopersmith plans to step down from her role in April, to be replaced by a pair of partners.
Abid Qureshi and Daniel Walsh will serve as co-chairs. Qureshi, a longtime Akin partner and financial restructuring litigator, is a member of the firm’s management committee and leads its New York office. Walsh is a London-based deals lawyer who served as a member of Akin’s management, compensation, and partnership admissions committees.
Akin’s center of power has gradually shifted from Texas to Washington and New York, its largest office and Koopersmith’s base of operations. The ascension of Qureshi and Walsh comes as several US firms are turning their attention to the UK.
Zuckerman Spaeder: Caroline Judge Mehta
Zuckerman Spaeder, a Washington-based litigation boutique, will have its first female chair in its 50-year history when partner Caroline Judge Mehta takes the role on Jan. 1.
Mehta is a white collar defense and investigations partner who first joined the firm as an associate in 2000. She returned to the firm in 2022 after a two-year stint at software company Afiniti, where she was general counsel and chief legal officer.
For the past year she served as co-chair alongside Dwight Bostwick, who led the firm from 2016 to 2023. Bostwick will remain at the firm as partner and member of its management committee.
“In the years ahead, we’ll build on the firm’s strong foundation and endeavor to uphold the legacy of excellence and commitment to our clients and to each other, modeled by the firm’s founders,” Mehta said in a statement announcing her new role.
Pryor Cashman: David Rose
New York-based litigation partner David Rose will become Pryor Cashman’s new managing partner on Feb. 1. He succeeds Ronald Shechtman, who has led the firm since 2007.
The roughly 200-lawyer firm brought in $187 million in gross revenue and offers $1.4 million in partner profits in 2023. Rose is a partner in the firm’s litigation, media and entertainment, and sports groups and co-chair of its alternative dispute practice.
Rose will become the third managing partner in the firm’s history. Shechtman will transition to co-chairman and co-general counsel, while continuing to serve on the firm’s executive committee.
Eversheds Sutherland: Lino Mendiola and Keith Froud
The transatlantic law firm is poised to get two new leaders in the coming months.
Texas-based partner Lino Mendiola in April will start his four-year term as CEO of Eversheds Sutherland (US). London’s Keith Froud will become CEO of Eversheds Sutherland (International) in May.
The firm, which has more than 3,000 lawyers, brought in $1.19 billion in total revenue in 2023, according to figures reported by the American Lawyer.
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