Goodwin Procter Bolsters Tech, Innovation Teams with New Hires

Goodwin Procter has bolstered its focus on tech with three new partners in its technology practice, as well as through the creation of a new chief innovation officer position. The firm announced both pieces of news separately Thursday.

Goodwin promoted Maureen Naughton to the new innovation role. For the past five years, she had worked at the firm as managing director for its program management office, in which she oversaw the firm’s project portfolio and key initiatives.

According to Goodwin’s managing partner, Mark Bettencourt, tech advancements have transformed existing industries and created new ones, causing clients to face unprecedented challenges.

“Supporting clients through these changes across both the practice and the business of law is our top priority and is the reason we have created the Chief Innovation Officer role,” Bettencourt said in a statement.

Several other Big Law firms have created chief innovation officer—or “CINO"—positions in recent years, in part as a response to rapid changes in legal technology, as well as increased pressure from clients to develop or use such tools to streamline operations and cut costs.

Meanwhile, the firm’s three new partners—Geoff Ossias, Sean Greaney, and Tim Poydenis—are also supporting tech innovations, but in a different context.

Each represents similar clients for Goodwin, including venture capital and angel investors, private equity funds, and startup companies in tech-driven fields like renewable energy, financial services, and healthcare.

The trio, who work out of Goodwin’s Santa Monica, Calif., office, joined from different firms and locations.

Ossias previously worked at Perkins Coie in Phoenix, where he was a partner in the firm’s corporate practice. Greaney was a partner with Stubbs Alderton & Markiles in Los Angeles before jumping to Goodwin. At Stubbs, Greaney focused on corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions.

Poydenis formerly worked as an associate for Cooley out of that firm’s Santa Monica office.

“As technology continues to converge into every industry, Goodwin is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of both investors and innovators in Silicon Beach’s robust ecosystem,” Anthony McCusker, chair of Goodwin’s technology group, said in a different statement. “Increasingly our technology, venture capital and private equity clients are doing business in this region, creating greater demand for our platform.”