The National Law Journal and Law360 covered the appointment of Jeffrey Connor as McGuireWoods’ chief operating officer in stories published Aug. 15, 2024. In a separate interview with the NLJ, Connor discussed his priorities as COO and challenges facing the legal industry.
Connor joined McGuireWoods as CFO in 2015 and oversaw the firm’s finance, pricing, accounting and tax functions. During his tenure, McGuireWoods’ net income and profitability reached all-time highs and the firm surpassed $1 billion in gross revenue for the first time in 2023. Connor told Law360 that McGuireWoods is poised to build on that momentum as he assumes the role of COO.
“With world-class lawyers, talented business professionals and unwavering commitment to client service excellence, we have tools in place to be a national powerhouse law firm,” he said.
In an interview with the NLJ published Aug. 19, 2024, Connor said the firm has “a great team of business professionals, and I think one of my goals is to continue to empower our business professionals to take roles and offer ideas and solutions that help not only the practice of law, but also how the firm operates as a business.”
Connor said he wants to continue engaging associates to broaden their understanding of the business fundamentals of client relationships, an initiative he began as CFO.
“I think we started and have a really good, robust program on the business of law within the firm,” he said. “We really have found success in speaking much more openly about it as folks come in the door, and that allows that group to have great questions, be more engaged. And then that flows through to the business professionals being able to engage with more people on the things that drive the firm as a business.”