Reed Smith’s New Leader Eyes More Markets for Hiring Expertise

Reed Smith’s global managing partner Casey Ryan plans to use eight years of experience overseeing hiring to grow the 1,700-lawyer firm in new markets.

Ryan, who took over the top leadership role on Wednesday, didn’t specify in an interview what new cities the firm is looking at.

“We are going to remain very focused on building out the skillsets and expertise our clients need,” she said. “There are additional markets that we’re considering.”

Ryan has taken the position vacated by Alexander “Sandy” Thomas, who announced in January he would step down mid-term to take the role of chief legal officer at international nonprofit Kids in Need of Defense.

Thomas had served in the managing partner role for 10 years, guiding the firm to more than $1.4 billion in revenue in 2021 and profits per equity partner of more than $1.7 million. The firm previously said it recorded its highest annual revenue in history in 2022 but has not shared more about its results.

The firm’s executive committee, which functions as a board of directors, selected her for the role after Thomas departed, Ryan said.

“I’m motivated and I’m grateful,” she said. “I am really honored to take it on, but I’m also motivated to do a lot in this role.”

Ryan was the longest-tenured member of the firm’s seven-member senior management team and will serve through 2025, when Reed Smith is next scheduled to hold a leadership election.

A Reed Smith lifer since she graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1996, Ryan served as the firm’s global head of legal personnel, which is responsible for recruitment, learning, compensation, and promotion.

The firm’s strategy will remain focused on five industry groups, Ryan said, including, energy and natural resources, entertainment and media, financial services, life sciences and health care, and transportation.

Hiring will also focus on “key verticals” including private equity and technology and data, she said.

Many law firms are retrenching after stretching their payrolls during a boom in deals work following the start of the pandemic. Reed Smith has not been eyeing layoffs, Ryan said.

“We didn’t over-hire, so we’re not in that position,” she said. “And I know across the industry there are concerns about demand, but we’ve held up well on that front.”

Reed Smith in October rolled out a new associate training program that Ryan announced under her previous role that aims to speed up development during young lawyers’ first three years at the firm.

The program allows associates to transfer offices, take foreign language classes, and learn the basics about law firm economics and client work.

The “Associate Advantage” program was delivered in part because new associates were “the hardest hit” by changes brought on by the pandemic, Ryan said. It is also a way to show associates the firm is invested in their success, she said.

“That sort of investment creates glue between people and an organization, and it’s paid dividends for us,” she said.

Reed Smith has also invested heavily in technology products and innovative legal service delivery businesses, which it spun off into a subsidiary dubbed Gravity Stack in 2018. Ryan said the firm remains committed to investing in technologies that deliver more efficient services.

“Technology is going to change the way legal services are delivered,” Ryan said. “This is going to develop quickly over the next several years, and that’s why it’s important for law firms to be in front of the curve.”

The firm doesn’t have a strict return-to-work policy, but it expects lawyers to be in the office “more often than not,” she said.