In 1988, Gary LeClair co-founded a firm with a business plan that had the makings of a four- to five-lawyer venture capital boutique. Nearly three decades later, 339-lawyer LeClairRyan came in at No. 167 on the most recent Am Law 200 rankings with $150.5 million in gross revenue in 2014.
On Tuesday, the Richmond, Virginia-based firm announced that LeClair will step down as chairman—a post he has held for 28 years—at the end of 2015, methodically making way for the next generation of LeClairRyan leadership. LeClair will return to his venture capital practice full time following the transition, one that comes three years after LeClairRyan’s other co-founder, Dennis Ryan, retired from the firm and became an executive vice president at Health Diagnostic Laboratory, which filed for bankruptcy in June. (The Richmond-based health care company owed $444,065 to LeClairRyan at the time of its filing.)
