The global pandemic and simultaneous economic disruption is accelerating many challenging trends for law firms across the globe with unprecedented velocity. Law firm leaders, individual practitioners, C-level law firm executives, bankers and clients are all faced with growing uncertainty about the future and are looking for resources to help navigate rapid change.

This book, edited by Peter Zeughauser of Zeughauser Group, will provide valuable insights and guidance on these trends and how best to embrace and harness them for continued success. It brings together world-renowned, skilled experts with different perspectives on the key challenges and opportunities that have arisen in the last few years, and continue to increase in importance.

Key issues covered include:
•Why and how to revisit your strategy plan;
•Effective client relationship management during a crisis;
•Wellbeing of partners and the workforce;
•How to leverage social responsibility and pro bono programmes; and
•Diversity and inclusion.

This title will also consider the impact of remote working on the profession, including how to build a stronger culture with a remote workforce, how to reduce your real estate costs and how remote working has impacted innovation and decision making.

A brilliant, insightful and timely compilation providing indispensable, innovative, and groundbreaking ideas for addressing critical issues in a rapidly changing world. This book is an indispensable resource for any current and future law firm leader seeking to navigate current and future global challenges successfully.
L. Song Richardson

Accelerating Trends in Law Firms is the essential manual for law firm leaders in the post-pandemic era. The topics are timely and cover all of the critical issues impacting law firms today - talent management, maintaining a culture with remote working, racial equity in law firms, and wellness. I know this is a book I will come back to over and over again and I am eager to share it with others on my management team.
Melissa Jones

Sara Andrews
Assistant director, New Perimeter, Senior international pro bono counsel, DLA Piper
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-andrews-825744/

Sara Andrews helps lead the strategic direction of New Perimeter, DLA Piper’s non- profit affiliate that provides longterm pro bono legal assistance in underserved regions around the world. She initiates, develops and contributes to New Perimeter projects and manages global teams of DLA Piper lawyers. Sara develops long- term partnerships with international NGOs, government agencies and other joint venture partners. She has led projects focused on legal education, law reform, access to justice, women’s rights and economic development throughout Africa, Asia, the Balkans and Latin America. Before joining New Perimeter full- time, Sara practised in DLA Piper’s litigation group. Sara received her BA, magna cum laude, from Amherst College and her JD from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Naomi Beard Nelson
Founder and CEO, Naomi Beard & Associates
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomibeardnelson/

Naomi Beard Nelson is the founder and CEO of Naomi Beard & Associates, Inc., a full- service law firm consultancy that has, for over 15 years, partnered with leading law firms across all markets to enable them to attract, develop and retain top talent. She regularly advises firms on leadership development, performance management, talent development framework design, compensation systems, mentoring programmes and engagement initiatives. Through bespoke executive coaching and career transition services, Naomi and her team help firms and their people optimise success. She and her team also perform a range of organisation- wide assessments, including 360° reviews, upward reviews and performance evaluations.
Before founding NB&A, Naomi practised law for 10 years in the US offices of two global law firms. She is a formally trained and credentialled executive coach, a frequent presenter at law firm and professional association events, and a contributor to a variety of
industry publications.

Jennifer Bluestein
Chief talent officer, Perkins Coie LLP
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbluestein/

A strategic talent development leader, Jennifer Bluestein, chief talent officer, is responsible for all talent strategy and human resources functions at Perkins Coie, including lawyer and staff recruitment, development, compensation and benefits. Prior to joining Perkins Coie, Jennifer, a former employment lawyer, spent more than 15 years in professional development at Greenberg Traurig and Baker & McKenzie and has a law degree from Pritzker Northwestern University School of Law.
Jennifer has authored two books for PLI on attorney development, An Associate’s First Year: A Guide to Thriving at a Law Firm in 2018 and Stepping It Up: A Guide for Mid- Level Associates in 2020.

Matt Brainard
Senior managing director, Savills
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewbrainard/

For two decades, Matt Brainard has specialised in representing law firms and corporate tenants on a local, national and global basis. He works closely with his clients helping them define what their future workspace and lease structure looks like and how this will enable their business to thrive. As a member of the Legal Tenant Practice Group and Technology Practice Group, Matt has negotiated large and complex commercial real estate transactions allotting more than five million square feet on behalf of legal, tech, media and professional services companies. Matt and his team deliver a full scope of integrated services including site search and selection, occupancy cost reductions, capital containment, lease and sale negotiations, transaction management, financial modelling, workplace strategy, project management, critical technology facilities, lease administration, operating expense audits and multilocation portfolio advisory.

David Cunningham
Chief innovation officer, Reed Smith
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbcunningham/

David Cunningham is the chief innovation officer of global firm Reed Smith. He guides the firm in thoughtful review of modern legal service delivery models, working to create a firm that is driven by the value it can measure and provide to its clients and employees. David is also the founder Legal Metrics, a data- driven ‘legal ops’ and diversity metrics initiative. He has engaged over a hundred legal departments and law firms to improve how legal ops metrics are calculated and benchmarked. He was also deeply involved with the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) in its earliest days and has spoken on the topic of legal ops metrics at all the CLOC US Institute events. David was previously the chief information officer of Winston & Strawn, where he was responsible for creating and sustaining a competitive edge with technology, data and improved processes. His role included leadership for IT, risk management, information governance, innovation, data analytics, research, project management and one of the industry’s largest e-discovery/ managed services teams. David was previously a managing director of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins (now HBR Consulting) for the technology strategy and risk practices. Over 20 years, he worked with 200 US and UK/ European firms.

Lisa Dewey
Pro bono partner and director, New Perimeter, DLA Piper
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-dewey-2a46ba6/

As DLA Piper’s full- time pro bono partner, Lisa Dewey cultivates DLA Piper’s strategic thinking on pro bono, including the vision for DLA Piper’s US pro bono programme. Lisa leads the firm’s US pro bono practice, including working with firm corporate clients to develop and deliver collaborative pro bono projects. Additionally, Lisa serves as the director for New Perimeter, DLA Piper’s global pro bono initiative dedicated to providing long- term pro bono legal assistance in underserved regions around the world to support access to justice, social and economic development, sound legal institutions, and women’s advancement.
Lisa teaches and frequently lectures on access to justice and pro bono. Her experience includes representing clients in death penalty, family law and asylum matters, as well as corporations and individuals in criminal investigations and federal jury trials. Lisa received her JD, summa cum laude, from American University’s Washington College of Law.

Alex Dimitrief
Partner, Zeughauser Group
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexdimitrief/

Alex Dimitrief is a partner at Zeughauser Group. He is also a lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, where he teaches a new class on “The Corporation as a Citizen”, and a distinguished adjunct professor at New York Law School, where he teaches on corporations. Alex was the president and CEO of General Electric’s Global Growth Organization in 2018– 2019 and previously served as the general counsel of GE Energy, GE Capital and then GE. Before joining GE in 2007, he was a trial lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis LLP for 20 years.

Thomas P Fitzgerald
Chairman, Winston & Strawn
[email protected]
https://www.winston.com/en/professionals/fitzgerald-thomas-p

Thomas P Fitzgerald currently serves as the firm’s chairman and leads its Executive Committee. He has led the firm since 2006, and during his tenure the firm opened 10 additional offices on three continents and significantly expanded its practice offerings. Tom coordinates the firm’s acquisition of new talent, leads client development and feedback initiatives, and manages the firm’s operations across the world.

Anne Geraghty Helms
Director & counsel, US pro bono programmes, DLA Piper
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-geraghty-helms-628a725/

Anne Geraghty Helms is responsible for helping to develop, lead and manage DLA Piper’s pro bono programme in the United States. Working collaboratively with the legal aid community, her role is to engage every DLA Piper lawyer in the United States, often in partnership with firm clients, in meaningful opportunities to give back through legal pro bono. Anne concentrates her own practice on juvenile and criminal justice issues but also has worked on a range of initiatives that touch on pro bono and access to justice – helping to establish legal clinics in domestic violence and landlord– tenant court, presenting at law schools in Mexico City on pro bono and juvenile justice as part of the firm’s New Perimeter project focused on helping to strengthen pro bono culture in Mexico, and co- drafting a report for the Legal Services Corporation’s Pro bono Task Force. Anne received her JD, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.

Eric Ho
Founder and director, Health for Success
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erichhho/

Eric Ho has been a lawyer for over 20 years. He trained as an M&A lawyer and was group head of legal for Anglo American plc’s commodity trading business. He is also a leadership health coach, one of a small handful of US National Board- certified Health and Wellness Coaches based in the UK (NBC- HWC), an ADAPT- Certified Functional Health Coach (A- CFHC), and an ambassador of the UK Health Coaches Association.
Eric founded Health for Success to help high- performing individuals and teams rediscover authentic success: success without the overwhelm, burnout, and poor physical and mental health. His work focuses on leadership and the ways in which health, happiness and productivity overlap. He collaborates with licensed health practitioners globally, focusing on cognitive decline, to support patients achieve their health goals in a lasting and sustainable way. Eric loves using his multi- lingual, multi- cultural background to help professionals use health as a foundation to be their best.

Michelle Holford
Director of business development, Slaughter and May
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelleholford/

Michelle Holford is currently the director of business development at Slaughter and May, leading a multi- discipline team to help grow, develop and support the firm’s client relationships. An experienced marketing and business development leader, she has over 20 years’ experience across a range of professional services sectors including legal, corporate finance and private equity. Prior to joining Slaughter and May in 2018, Michelle was head of client solutions at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, where she was responsible for the marketing the firm’s services on a global basis. Before Freshfields she was a deal originator at corporate finance firm Livingstone Partners (now Arrowpoint Advisory, part of Rothschild), responsible for generating new clients and opportunities for the firm.

Randall Kiser
Principal analyst, DecisionSet®
[email protected]
https://www.decisionset.com/lawyers/randall-kiser/

Randall Kiser is a principal analyst at DecisionSet®, a professional development and decision services firm. He is recognised as “the pre-eminent scholar of the US legal profession” and is also regarded as “a brilliant scholar and legal consultant”, “the leading scholar in attorney decision processes” and “an internationally acclaimed researcher and consultant on legal decision making and trial risk assessments”. Randall is the author of four books on law firm and attorney performance. He has taught law school courses at major universities and served as a scholar- in- residence at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. His work has been featured in media ranging from The New York Times to the Harvard Negotiation Law Review. Randall received his law degree in 1978 from the University of California at Berkeley and was awarded his undergraduate degree with highest honours in 1975 from the University of California at Davis.

Tiffani G Lee
Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffani-lee-7833ab/

Tiffani G Lee is a partner in the South Florida Litigation Group of Holland & Knight in Miami. Since 2008, Tiffani has served as the firm’s diversity partner. As diversity partner, she leads the firmwide Diversity Council, serves on the Practice and Operations Committee (the firm’s highest governance body), and serves on the firm’s Partner Compensation Committee.
Tiffani is recognised nationally for her DEI work and frequently speaks and writes on these issues. After the killing of George Floyd, Tiffani authored a Law360 article titled “Lawyers Must Address Racial Injustice with Radical Candor”. In the article, Tiffani wrote about the necessity of lawyers and law firms addressing racial injustice and how, as guardians of justice, lawyers have an obligation to work for the greater good.

Tiffany Winne
Executive managing director and partner, Stream Realty Partners
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-winne-73b20/

Tiffany Winne is an executive managing director and partner at Stream Realty Partners, where she leads the strategic direction and operations of the Arizona office. Tiffany’s primary responsibilities include leading Stream’s acquisition, development, leasing and property management services. Throughout her two- decade real estate career Tiffany has been devoted to representing commercial tenants with a particular focus on the legal sector, creating solutions to enhance opportunity and mitigate risk for law firms.
Tiffany was declared one of the top 50 most influential women in commercial real estate nationwide on the 2017 Women of Influence list by the Real Estate Forum. She has been quoted in diverse publications including Business Week, Phoenix Business Journal, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, Commercial Property News, Illinois Real Estate Journal and Real Estate Forum. Additionally, Tiffany serves as a community board member of the Translational Genomics Research Institute.

Peter Zeughauser
Chair, Zeughauser Group
[email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterzeughauser/

Peter Zeughauser is the chair of Zeughauser Group, a leading international law firm consultancy. He is a trusted adviser to the leadership of market leading global, international, national, regional and boutique law firms on the challenges and opportunities they face as a result of increasing competition for sought- after high- performing talent, consolidation, segmentation and globalisation of the market for legal services. He has served as an adviser on the industry’s most consequential and precedent setting mergers and acquisitions and regularly advises firms on leadership enhancement, improved financial performance, governance, succession planning, partnership structure and compensation systems. Peter is the author of Lawyers are from Mercury, Clients are From Pluto (ClientFocus Press, 1998). He served as a contributing editor to The American Lawyer Magazine for 20 years. Before consulting, Peter served as senior vice president and general counsel of the Irvine Company for over a decade until 1996. He served as chair of the Corporate Counsel Association in 1991 and as an adjunct professor of law at University of California – Irvine School of Law in 2021.