Kim Koopersmith has been chairwoman of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld since 2013, and going into her third year at the helm, she says she feels good about where the 800-lawyer firm is headed. “We’ve enjoyed some good strategic success, and the partnership feels strong,” she says.
And her personal well-being? That’s a trickier question. Some days, she concedes, she feels like a wreck. Little wonder. Her job keeps her on the road three weeks out of four, crossing and recrossing time zones, living out of a suitcase, a different hotel every few days. In late January, Koopersmith traveled to the firm’s Hong Kong office, the first leg of a trip that would take her on to Beijing, then back stateside to Washington, D.C., and New York, all in the span of about 10 days. As a veteran of firm management and an experienced commercial litigator, Koopersmith is no stranger to long hours and hard work. But she says the role of running a global law firm is qualitatively different from her prior experiences, and she admits that even after several years she is still learning to deal with the lifestyle that goes with her position.
