Consider recent cases such as Dane Butswinkas short-lived move to Tesla from Williams & Connolly, or the leave that Baker & McKenzie global chairman Paul Rawlinson is currently taking for "exhaustion." Whatever the nature of Caplan's alleged crime or his management role, his unexpected exit serves as another example of the need for robust succession planning. Of course, it doesn't require a scandal to unseat a leader without warning. "It would be infrequent that the absence of one person for a period of time would be a game changer," Zimmerman contended. In 2018, the firm had its strongest financial performance in nearly a half-decade. The disruption has had no apparent drag on Latham's performance. There, vice-chairs Ora Fisher and Richard Trobman immediately stepped in as interim co-chairs, and Trobman was selected as the new chair and managing partner three months later. The immediate move for the firm is likely to apportion out Caplan's management responsibilities to another leader while it grapples with the current and potential headaches of having a prominent partner publicly disgraced and facing severe legal jeopardy.īut the very fact that Caplan was one of several names attached to the management of the firm suggests that his exit will not be as significant as 2018's most stunning law firm leadership change: the abrupt resignation of Latham & Watkins' sole chairman, Bill Voge, after his "communications of a sexual nature" with a woman who had no connection to the firm were revealed. "People need to know who to go to for what," he said.
But at most firms with co-leaders, there's a formal division of responsibilities, at least internally, noted Altman Weil's Eric Seeger.
The firm declined to comment about the nature of Caplan's leadership role. "The role and responsibility of different types of leader varies very much between different firms," said Zeughauser Group consultant Kent Zimmermann.
In a November 2016 interview with Forbes, after Caplan took on the co-chair title, Cerabino explained that he and Gartner lead the firm's 10-member executive committee and that "ultimately" the two are "responsible for directing the firm." In recent years, it's Gartner who has served as the public voice of the firm.
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