Biglaw, Partner Issues

Peter Kalis Won't Run For Re-Election As Chair Of K&L Gates

What will Peter Kalis's legacy at the firm look like?

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Peter Kalis

Peter Kalis

Peter Kalis — the longtime chair of K&L Gates, which he has run with such a strong grip that some have nicknamed him “The King” — is relinquishing his crown and scepter. As Julie Triedman reports over at Law.com:

Peter Kalis will not seek re-election to the top post at the firm he has steered for 19 years, K&L Gates announced Tuesday.

“In early July, I informed our management committee that I would not be a candidate for another term as head of the firm,” Kalis said in a statement. “It has been an honor to serve the only law firm I have called home, and I look forward not only to concluding a strong 2016 but also to seeing my successors take the firm to greater heights in the years to come.” Kalis’s term ends next February.

At 66, Kalis is perhaps the last among a generation of firm builders that, until recently, included Dechert’s Bart Winokur, Latham & Watkins’ Robert Dell, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s Ralph Baxter and Reed Smith’s Gregory Jordan. He was appointed chair at 47 in 1997.

Distinguished company, but Kalis certainly deserves to be mentioned among their ranks. The former Rhodes Scholar and Supreme Court clerk is one of Biglaw’s most colorful characters and visionary leaders, and he worked wonders at K&L Gates:

During Kalis’s five consecutive terms as the firm’s leader, he steered the firm from a relatively sleepy Pittsburgh-based regional player into a global powerhouse in five continents. With 46 offices around the world, K&L Gates has for the past two years ranked among legal market research company Acritas’ 10 best-known in the United States, though it hasn’t yet cracked the top 20 global brand rankings. Clients give it top marks for tech savviness, according to surveys by legal research firm BTI Consulting Group.

The 1,852-lawyer firm, known best for its securities regulation, investment fund, IP litigation, energy and middle-market transactional work, among other areas, has engineered this expansion without the benefit of bank loans.

Indeed. Longtime readers of ATL may recall how Kalis laid the smackdown on critics who questioned the state of the firm back in 2012 (and how he lashed out at Law360 last year). His defenses of the firm rely heavily upon detailed data; Kalis is, as Triedman notes, a major advocate of transparency within the world of large law firms, even going so far as to release audited financial information for K&L Gates in recent years.

Kalis successfully transformed K&L Gates over the long term, but the firm has hit some rough spots lately, as Law.com points out:

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[I]n recent years, Kalis has been unable to stem declines in the firm’s profitability and productivity. Since 2008, revenue per lawyer has drifted from $620,000 to $575,000 in 2015, 92nd among Am Law 100 firms. During the same time, according to Am Law 100 data, average profits per partner haven’t budged, varying little from 2008′s $855,000. (In 2015 PPP was $870,000, up 4.8 percent from the previous year, but a 16.6 percent drop in equity partner head count was largely responsible.) The firm grossed $1.065 billion last year, according to the Am Law 100.

This year, the firm also saw a large number of partners, including some practice leaders and management members, depart for other firms. So far this year, 57 partners have left, and 35 have joined, according to ALM RivalEdge lateral moves data.

We’ve chronicled those partner defections extensively in these pages (see here, here, and here). On the bright side, the departures seem to have slowed in recent months — perhaps because this year will bring a big payday to partners, thanks to a $210 million contingency fee award.

Who will replace Kalis as the leader of K&L Gates? That’s not clear — although expect “The King” to have a major hand in picking his successor.

We might do a longer piece on Peter Kalis and his tenure atop K&L Gates. Please feel free to email us or text us (646-820-8477) with any thoughts you might be willing to share. Thanks.

UPDATE (9/7/2016, 7:35 p.m.): Here’s an update, K&L Gates After Peter Kalis’s Reign.

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Peter Kalis to Transition Out of Role as K&L Gates Chairman [Law.com]
K&L Gates Prepares for First Change in Chairmanship in Two Decades [K&L Gates (press release)]

David Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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