Sally is now available to bring her experience in support of law firms, law departments and other legal enterprises as they contemplate a rapidly changing and increasingly challenging business environment including how to compete and structure themselves during a period of rapid changes in the industry.
Sally was the first business manager of the General Electric Legal Organization which at the time had 475 lawyers in 75 locations globally and a direct budget of $650 million. During her time at GE, Sally devised the first significant outside counsel management program including its Outside Counsel Guidelines. She was then hired by NYNEX where she served at its corporate headquarters and directed the strategic management and operations of the legal and security departments with over 1,000 employees in 30 locations. Critically, she saw NYNEX through the telecom industry’s two largest multi-billion-dollar mergers (NYNEX/Bell Atlantic and Bell Atlantic/GTE) to form Verizon.
In 2001 Sally leveraged her in-house experiences to work with law firms during a period when many were engaging professional executive management for the first time. Sally became the first Chief Operating Officer of Kronish Lieb Weiner and Hellman where she ultimately led the firm through a merger with Cooley, bringing Cooley to the East Coast of the United States and establishing it as a global brand name. Thereafter she worked at Clifford Chance as the COO for the Americas, working closely with counterparts in London, but retaining responsibility for offices in the US and South America. During the Great Recession, she played a critical role in “Project Reshape” to help redefine and restructure the Americas region.
In 2010, Sally joined SNR Denton as its first Global Chief Operating Officer. In this role she directed the integration and restructure of the newly formed firm following the combination of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal and London’s Denton Wilde Sapte. During her tenure, Sally led the merger efforts (due diligence through integration) to form what became branded as Dentons (adding Salans in Europe, Frazer Miller Cassgrain in Canada and a group of attorneys from Hammonds in Hong Kong and China).
Sally was then recruited by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to become their Chief Operating Officer, to partner with the newly appointed firm Chairperson. Sally helped restructure the business operations of the firm and played a pivotal role in the acquisition and integration of the Bingham McCutchen office in London. Among other things she accomplished at Akin Gump, Sally completely restructured the firm’s global lease portfolio yielding the firm over $300 million in savings.
Sally’s final full-time assignment was as the Chief Operating Officer of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler which she agreed to join for a limited period of four years in order to update and professionalize the firm’s business practices, help with the transition to a new managing partner and identify and train her ultimate successors.
Sally is a dual national (US/UK) and holds an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business. She is a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and has served on the Boards of British American Business, Infinite Global Consulting and the Board of Advisors for Catalyst. She is a certified Executive Coach and a member of the International Coaching Council. She was also a Special Advisor to the New York State Bar Association Committee on Law Practice Management. Sally has been a frequent speaker at a variety of industry conferences and looks forward to invitations to continue to offer comment and observations.
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