Winston & Strawn Names Litigation Co-Head D’Amore as Next Chair

Winston & Strawn is getting a new chair after nearly 20 years.

Steve D’Amore, longtime co-chair of the firm’s litigation department and executive committee member, will become Winston & Strawn’s new chair, succeeding Tom Fitzgerald, who has held the role for more than 17 years. Chicago-based D’Amore will officially step into the role in June 2024.

D’Amore, who first joined the firm nearly 30 years ago, focuses on trials and disputes in state and federal courts and has represented clients in many jury trials and other cases involving a wide variety of claims in nationwide litigation, investigations and proceedings by federal and state regulators.

Over the years he has represented the likes of Abbott Laboratories Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Duff & Phelps LLC and Cargill Inc.

“I’m completely and totally humbled and ready to go,” D’Amore said in an interview with Bloomberg Law of his appointment.

D’Amore said he will work alongside Fitzgerald over the next year to transition and create a new leadership team for the 170-year-old firm.

“I am going to try in the next few days to do the best I can to capture and harness the energy and excitement that has been generated through this transition process and motivate our partners to the next great thing,” he said.

D’Amore said he will continue to practice law as he manages the day-to-day of the firm as chair. Renowned litigators Dan Webb and Jeffrey Kessler will continue to serve as co-executive chairmen of Winston & Strawn, serving as “a resource and advisors on the highest-level issues that face the law firm,” D’Amore said.

Webb recently led the Winston & Strawn team that defended Fox News and parent company Fox Corp. in its $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against the media organization. Kessler, who also co-chairs the firm’s global antitrust and competition practice, has a stable of high-profile clients that include numerous professional athlete unions and was one of the lead attorneys in Alston v. NCAA that that struck down anticompetitive NCAA rules barring player compensation.

Continued Growth, Depth

Under Fitzgerald’s tenure as law firm chair, Winston & Strawn doubled its revenue to more than $1 billion annually and expanded its footprint, opening offices in Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami and Silicon Valley as well as Hong Kong, São Paulo, and Shanghai.

It has also expanded beyond its litigation roots, building a corporate team that rivals its litigation team in size.

“That balance between litigation and transactions that has been so important to our law firm and we’re going to keep doing that,” D’Amore said. “I’m very excited not only about the next generation of litigators but continuing to emphasize our growth on the transactions side,” he said.

In terms of expansion, D’Amore said that stateside the firm is focused on developing its existing offices, with New York being a priority moving forward. Winston & Strawn will also focus on strengthening its position in London and Paris.

“We have more to do in Europe and then we’ll see where we go from there,” D’Amore said.

As the legal industry faces numerous challenges, D’Amore said that he plans on continuing to build day after day the strength of its next generation of leaders in litigation and on the transactional side. He said the firm is also working to tackle the return to office quandary faced by many Big Law firms.

“There is a very strong sentiment among our associates and our partners about the importance of culture and the contribution that being in the office together makes toward culture so we’re very focused on it and we’re going to get to the right balance in the near future,” he said.