Quinn Emanuel Founder John Quinn Steps Down From Leadership Role

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan founder John Quinn is stepping down from managing the firm he founded.

Quinn will remain a partner at the firm and retain a non-executive chair title, allowing him to focus his efforts on promoting Quinn Emanuel and client development, the firm announced Sunday.

“We thank John for his tireless efforts over the last 40 years in building the world’s leading disputes firm,” co-managing partners William Burck and Mike Carlinsky said in a statement.

Quinn’s move is significant because he is a singular leader among Big Law firms and his activities—as well as his comments about the industry—are closely watched by rival managers. Since 2022, he’s added to his public profile by taking on the role of quasi-journalist, as he interviews Big Law leaders for his podcast “Law, disrupted,” which according to his firm has over 1 million streams and downloads.

“John has been a great firm leader and lawyer, and it continues to be a privilege to be a part of this great firm,” Burck and Carlinksy said.

Quinn, 74, co-founded the firm in 1986, alongside Eric Emanuel and were joined by Phyllis Kupferstein and David Quinto. His litigation-only operation—the world’s largest such firm—is known for taking on high-profile cases on behalf of celebrity clients such as Alec Baldwin and Elon Musk.

Under Quinn’s leadership, the firm grew to 1,300 attorneys in 35 offices in 12 countries. He gave his first hint of a leadership transition in 2022, when he added Burck and Carlinsky as co-managing partners and took the new post of chairman.

The firm reached a milestone early this year when it said it expects to pay equity partners $9 million on average for 2025, making it just the third large law firm to reach that profits mark.

The American Lawyer earlier reported Quinn’s move.