Winston Chairman Tom Fitzgerald Discusses Firm’s West Coast Growth With Law360 Pulse

Winston & Strawn Chairman Tom Fitzgerlad was recently featured in a Law360 Pulse article where he discussed the factors that have guided Winston’s growth over the years and the firm’s expansion on the West Coast.

“We realized coming out of the Great Recession that we had a number of things that we had to do to maintain our status and relevancy in the legal market. One was to move aggressively outside Chicago. It’s a great city. I feel lucky enough to have lived there, but we recognized in order to be an international firm, we needed strengths on the coasts. Number two, at that point, we were heavily weighted in litigation. Probably two-thirds litigation. We recognized that would not serve us well in the long run in terms of building a sustainable, repeatable client base. So, we moved very aggressively into the transactional field, while maintaining what I think is a preeminent litigation brand. That has not been easy because firms generally gravitate toward one or the other, but we’ve been able to maintain a very strong balance between those two,” Tom said of the firm’s philosophy on growth and expansion. 

He went on to discuss Winston’s growth in California with the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley offices; what the future holds for the firm on the West Coast; and his professional background and journey to becoming chair of the firm.

Read the full article.