Filling law firm leadership positions from outside the legal world may not be the rarity it once was—Pepper Hamilton, one of the first Am Law 100 firms to tap a nonlawyer to be its leader, saw its CEO leave late last year.
Now McDermott Will & Emery is going outside the industry for a new top executive. The firm hired JOHN YOSHIMURA, a former COO of global consulting firm A.T. Kearney, as its new COO on Jan. 1. McDermott cochair Jeffrey Stone told Crain’s Chicago Business that the firm was looking for an administrator to help it adjust to structural changes affecting the legal profession. Yoshimura replaces Robert Koenen, who retired from McDermott at the end of 2014 but remains a consultant to the firm, which like several Am Law rivals last year made some reductions to its staffing levels.
