Polsinelli planted its flag in Texas nearly a decade ago with two partners and an associate from K&L Gates in Dallas. Today, the Kansas City-based firm has more than 60 attorneys in Dallas and a Houston office.
One year ago, the firm’s leadership chose investment fund and corporate transactional shareholder Brian Bullard to take the reigns of the Dallas office from Jonathan Henderson, who had led the office since it opened and now sits on the firmwide board of directors.
As Polsinelli nears its 10-year anniversary in Dallas, The Texas Lawbook caught up with Bullard to reflect on his first year leading the office in what was a truly historic and turbulent first 12 months.
The Texas Lawbook: How has the first year in your new role been? Obviously, a lot has happened. How have your priorities shifted from when you started as managing partner of the office to today?
Bullard: COVID-19 has presented new challenges but also new opportunities. Our Dallas office’s priorities remain quite similar to what they were before, insofar as we want to continue building on our powerful national platform, now coupled with a seamless, virtual work environment. Polsinelli remains the “Goldilocks” of firms for a lot of businesses, in that we’re not just a regional player, and we’re not looking to span the globe. Instead, we are keenly focused on forging even deeper relationships with clients who may have national needs and aspirations, and on partnering with them to help them figure out how best to pivot and innovate. The pandemic has only emphasized the importance of adaptability and innovation, and we believe we’re very well-positioned to counsel clients on those efforts, since we were already focused on them well before the pandemic began.
We remain optimistic that we can help clients see a light at the end of the tunnel, and in fact, to come out of this current challenging environment even stronger and better prepared to thrive than they may have been before.
The Lawbook: How has Polsinelli and the Dallas office specifically fared compared to what you were planning for and projecting when the government shutdowns began in March?
Bullard: As with most firms, we saw things happening really quickly when the shutdowns began in mid-to-late March, and for nearly two months, it felt like the entire industry was pretty paralyzed. Luckily, we were able to move quickly to an all-virtual environment within just a couple of weeks to keep our team safe and to ensure we could continue effectively serving our clients. Firm leadership also did a great job putting together a pandemic action plan, including both operational elements for our own firm, as well as thought leadership activities such as our COVID-19 blog and virtual seminars that could directly benefit our clients as they struggled to anticipate issues and adapt to the new environment.
Since early May, we have seen things starting to recover pretty well, both for us and our clients. Of course, there are still many variables in play, with the pandemic, the recent election and other national and world events, but we feel pretty good about where we are, all things considered.
The Lawbook: You have said Jon Henderson is a tough act to follow. Can you describe his impact on the firm?
Bullard: Jon’s impact on the Dallas office, and on the firm, has really been infinite. Not only did he help open the Dallas office, which is now about to celebrate its 10th anniversary, but he has also done so many things in support of others within the firm. From a firm leadership standpoint, he serves as vice chair of our business development groups, and also serves on the firm’s board. Beyond that, he chairs the firm’s nationwide Corporate & Transactional practice and has been instrumental in establishing an industry-leading Health Care M+A group within that practice.
Locally, he helped Polsinelli raise its profile in North Texas and forge extremely strong ties to the Dallas business community through his active involvement with the Dallas Regional Chamber, as well as his founding and chairing of the Healthcare Dealmakers Conference in Dallas, which continues to bring together the nation’s leading healthcare organizations, private equity firms and other investors each year for a forward-looking discussion at the transactional trends shaping the future of healthcare.
Given all of that, and so much more, it is hard to overstate his impact on the firm’s success in the North Texas market, as well as the firm’s overall success nationwide.
The Lawbook: Where do you see Polsinelli’s place in the market? With the office’s 10-year anniversary this year, what are your hopes for the firm for the next 10 years?
Bullard: In the local market, we see lots of opportunity that we can still capitalize on. Dallas is obviously a great place to be, given the strong business climate with a well-diversified industry base, from Fortune 500 enterprises to entrepreneurial start-ups, as well as the private equity firms and venture capital to support both.
Our hopes for the next 10 years are to continue building our brand and local ties, to seize on the available business opportunities and to continue bringing in great legal talent that matches up with the business community’s needs.
The Lawbook: While some firms are shedding practices to specialize in one or two key areas, you said you believe in being a full-service firm and that you are hesitant to shed practices. Why?
Bullard: Our goal is to represent clients, not industries. Having a broad spectrum of practices and service offerings allows us to better do that. It’s all about being responsive to what the market demands and, more specifically, what our clients tell us they need.
The Lawbook: When you started as managing partner, you described your lateral recruiting strategy of targeting thoughtful and entrepreneurial associates in their 7th, 8th and 9th years. How have your recruiting efforts been impacted by the pandemic?
Bullard: Of course, lateral recruiting has been affected significantly, and in various ways, by the pandemic. One thing the pandemic certainly reinforced, which we already knew before and were actively moving towards embracing, was the increasing importance of offering flexibility in work arrangements.
Where I see Polsinelli having a bit of a competitive advantage in recruiting is that we were already beginning to do this before the pandemic even hit, where we were offering lateral recruits the chance to have more flexible, virtual work arrangements than they might be able to find at other firms in our competitive set, while still having meaningful professional advancement opportunities. I believe that, post-COVID, firms and companies that go back to a full-time-in-the-office, non-virtual work environment going forward are going to be at something of a competitive disadvantage in the battle for talent.
It’s fair to say a lot of us are now waiting to see how the market for legal talent will shake out now. Regardless, I am confident that Polsinelli will be in a good position to bring in good talent who will be a strong fit for our clients and our platform.
The Lawbook: Who and/or what experiences have formed your vision of leadership?
Bullard: My vision of leadership has always been that you lead by example, and this vision has been shaped and reinforced by many partners I have seen doing this, both at Polsinelli and at the previous firm where I practiced.
I also believe you need to focus on managing good people and helping to make them great, by giving them the tools and the guidance and the support they need, and then turning them loose.
My former boss at Akin Gump, Eliot Raffkind, was one such leader. I modeled my own practice and office leadership style after many of the tenets he personally exhibited. It wasn’t any one particular thing he did, but rather his overall approach, which included being a good person, treating others well and protecting them when needed, not taking himself too seriously, doing outstanding work for clients, and building something organically, rather than trying to force the issue.
Similarly, I have modeled some of my own leadership efforts after those of Chase Simmons, who is now CEO and chairman of Polsinelli, but who was heading the Real Estate group when I first joined the firm. Much like Eliot, he embodies many of the same leadership qualities, as do numerous others in our firm.
The Lawbook: What has it been like to lead in a historic pandemic?
Bullard: As I mentioned before, it has certainly been interesting and challenging, and wasn’t necessarily what I expected out of the first year of leading the Dallas office. In a lot of ways, though, it has been really positive and inspiring, as I’ve seen our team and our clients rise to the challenge, relying on their passion and intelligence and adaptability to find new ways of collaborating and innovating. As a leader, that has been great to see.
I have tried to focus on making sure our team has a productive, safe working environment, so they could continue to excel. Right now, our office is at maximum 25% capacity, and flexibility is the focus. I have also tried to focus on giving insights to all of our staff on what’s going on, what the “new normal” might look like going forward, and seeking their input about thoughtful strategies we can implement both locally and firmwide to pivot.
Just like everyone else, I am trying to do the best I can, and to learn and grow, and provide mutual support. The other area where I’ve tried to purposefully focus has been “leading by listening.” Every day I endeavor to call at least five team members, just to ask “How are you doing?”
Before the pandemic, my key initiatives were budgeting and recruiting. While those are still important, they’re not the top priority today!
The Lawbook: You’ve talked about the eternal optimism of Dallas. Has the pandemic dampened that for you?
Bullard: No, it hasn’t. Dallas, and the entire state of Texas for that matter, have a lot of unique and compelling advantages, which are contributing to the continuing influx of people and companies from all over, but especially both coasts. The reason Polsinelli came here in the first place was to have a strategic, national perspective that we could bring to bear for the benefit of Dallas-based and Texas-based companies.
I am proud to see Dallas is still demonstrating a lot of resiliency, resourcefulness and innovation. We see it especially in the emerging managers and companies that may fly a bit under the radar – those emerging and middle-market companies, as well as the venture capital funds and private equity firms that support them.
I say if you’re starting a business in Texas, Dallas/Fort Worth is where you want to be. There’s a great energy here, a true buzz. Plus, you’ve got ready access to financial capital, as well as a talented, business-savvy workforce, and all of the networks, advisers and suppliers who can help you thrive.
The Lawbook: Does being married to a corporate in-house lawyer give you special insight into what legal departments are looking for from their law firms? If so, how?
Bullard: I don’t know that it’s necessarily special insight, other than to reinforce what most business lawyers already know – that corporate counsel want carefully considered guidance that’s sensitive to the client’s unique business realities, and that also provides clear direction on how best to proceed in tricky situations. In their external legal adviser, corporate counsel want someone who will really listen, ask great questions, think deeply, advise practically and advocate passionately. It’s as simple as that. Of course, that’s not always an easy task, either.