A Duane Morris litigator in California is now overseeing the firm’s trial practice lawyers after the Philadelphia-founded firm appointed bicoastal leadership in its largest department.
Stephen Sutro, who has served as managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office for almost a decade, succeeds Philadelphia-based Wayne Mack, who led the more than 400-lawyer trial practice group since 2018 alongside Philadelphia-based Sharon Caffrey. Caffrey will remain as co-chair while Mack takes a chair emeritus position, leaders at the firm said. The changes were effective Jan. 1.
“We have an incredible group of trial lawyers, and we are continuing to grow,” Sutro said. “From my standpoint, it’s a great honor to work with them. I already have been but now on a more formalized basis.”
Sutro added that ”there’s nothing about [Mack's] stepping down that’s reflective of anything other than he’s been a great leader for a long time.”
Sutro has been a partner at Duane Morris since 2003, litigating on behalf of clients in matters involving securities fraud and insider trading allegations. He became managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office in 2014, overseeing its growth to become the third largest in Duane Morris’ global footprint.
In Duane Morris’ announcement Tuesday, chairman and CEO Matt Taylor said Sutro’s appointment creates a “more geographically balanced approach to our litigation practice.”
“Steve has contributed significantly to our success in California and we will benefit from the addition of his nationally recognized talent to our practice leadership team,” Taylor said.
Asked to describe the process for Sutro’s appointment, Taylor said in a statement that the firm employed a “collaborative, consensus-building process to identify the next generation of leadership.”
Sutro, he said, emerged as a prominent leader during his role at the head of the firm’s San Francisco office for 10 years and his membership on the firm’s governing body.
“The firm believes it would be strategic to have the co-head of our largest practice group on the West Coast, since California is a key growth region,” Taylor said. “Finally, of course, Steve has all the merit in the world and is an incredibly well-thought-of partner across the entire firm.” [...]
With Sutro’s appointment to firmwide leadership, the San Francisco office of Duane Morris is now led by partner Michael Fox, a litigator representing energy producers and manufacturers against various forms of liability, the firm said Tuesday. Fox joined Duane Morris from Sedgwick at a critical point in the firm’s West Coast expansion in 2018, with a group of colleagues based throughout California.
Leading the trial practice at Duane Morris, which encompasses more than 40% of the firm’s lawyers, has historically been a launch pad for Duane Morris leaders, including Taylor and retired U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
But Sutro, who began in the role Monday, said his focus will be on solidifying the firm’s national profile as a litigation powerhouse, helping corporate clients navigate complex commercial disputes, white-collar investigations and litigation, and products liability.
“We wanted to build a firm with a great geographic footprint, including in trial, to meet the needs of our clients,” Sutro said. “As lawyers, we’re driven by what the clients need and want. Large, sophisticated corporations have wanted sophisticated legal services at a few firms, not several firms. If Duane Morris wants to succeed and capture work from clients, then we need to be modern like that as well.”
Northern California is a much sought-after and yet notoriously difficult legal market for outside firms to enter, with large firms vying for a limited pool of clients and legal talent, Sutro said, noting that he takes pride in his firm’s success relative to peers.
“If you wanted to research the number of press releases of Am Law 100 firms announcing they were opening in the Bay Area in San Francisco or Silicon Valley, it would be interesting to see how many of those offices still exist,” Sutro said. “Many don’t succeed. Some firms treat offices as satellite offices, but that’s not our model.”
Reprinted with permission from The Legal Intelligencer, © ALM Media Properties LLC. All rights reserved.
