© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
Don’t let the steely eyes fool you: Ken Stewart, by all accounts, is one of the good people in this world. And a damn good corporate lawyer, leading three deals valued at a billion dollars or more during the past few years.
Two weeks ago, Stewart became the chairman of Fulbright & Jaworski, easily one of the most prominent and most recognizable legal brands in the history of Texas and across the US. The firm boasts more than 850 lawyers in 50 different practice areas across 17 offices.
Stewart also will be the last leader the 94-year-old law firm will ever have.
In June, Fulbright plans to consummate its marriage to London-based corporate legal giant Norton Rose. The Jaworski name will be gone forever, swallowed by a global behemoth with more than 3,700 lawyers and $2 billion in revenue. Please click here to see Texas Lawbook’s article about the Fulbright – Norton Rose merger.
Stewart, who has spent his entire 34-year career at Fulbright, including the last few years as managing partner of the Dallas office, insists he is 100 percent excited about the transition and not one bit sad or anxious.
“Change is inevitable and change is exciting,” says Stewart, who sat down with The Texas Lawbook for his first and only interview since taking over the reigns as Fulbright’s lead lawyer. “We’ve seen no real bumps in the road toward transition. It’s been pretty smooth.”
“Clients have been almost universally positive about this,” he says. “Our clients get it. They appreciate that their law firm is finally catching up with them and their business.”
Stewart led Fulbright’s negotiation with Norton Rose regarding the new firm’s administrative and financial structure and cultural divides. The new global firm is employing a unique business model called the Swiss Verein, which allows each of its geographic offices to operate financially independent of each other, much like the international accounting firms do now.
Norton Rose Fulbright, as the global umbrella structure will be called, will be divided into five financial pools: Norton Rose Fulbright—UK, Norton Rose Fulbright—Canada, Norton Rose Fulbright—South Africa, North Rose Fulbright—Australia and, starting in June, Norton Rose Fulbright—US.
“This is important for us to run our business, but clients don’t care what goes on behind the curtain,” says Stewart.
Ask if he describes the combining of the two firms as a “merger,” a “joint venture,” or an “acquisition,” Stewart pauses before he answers: “I call it a joining of forces.”
More controversial has been the elimination of Jaworski from the firm’s name. A handful of Texas-based Fulbright partners, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Texas Lawbook that they initially were led to believe that they would be able to continue to have the Jaworski name on their business cards and in marketing and client matters.
“I don’t know who the hell Norton and Rose are, but I’m pretty sure they didn’t prosecute war criminals at Nuremburg or prosecute the President’s Men in Watergate,” said one lawyer, referring to the extraordinary career and work of Leon Jaworski.
Stewart declined to say whether he’s had to address these concerns internally.
“We are still working on the branding with our consultants, but the worldwide brand and the name of the firm will be Norton Rose Fulbright,” he says.
“Colonel Jaworski is a part of the fabric of this law firm and that will never go away,” says Stewart. “But our brand in the US has been just Fulbright for a few years.”
Stewart says a key part of his job is to be the “traffic cop,” introducing lawyers from Norton Rose to his colleagues at Fulbright so that they can work together on client projects and begin the integration. He says practice leaders in energy, M&A, corporate finance and international dispute resolution are already meeting with each other in person and via video conferencing.
No global all-partner meetings are planned for 2013, but he says individual practice groups are likely to start conducting meetings of all their partners some time later in the year.
“Some of our lawyers are going there; some of their lawyers are coming here,” he says. “Working together on actual client matters is where the bonds will be strengthened.”
While Stewart says he hasn’t paid attention to rumors about the Fulbright–Norton Rose combination, he absolutely refutes any suggestion that the new firm will be seeking to downsize its Texas operations.
“We believe that there are still growth opportunities in Texas for us,” he says. “Lawyer headcount in Texas will be higher for us over the next five years.”
Despite the circling of competitors seeking to lure away disgruntled, unhappy or worried partners, Stewart says he doesn’t believe that many lawyers will leave for other firms because of the merger.
“I don’t expect it to be an aberrational year one way or the other,” he says.
Fulbright is looking to have a comeback year financially. The Texas Lawyer has reported that the firm’s revenue in 2011 fell to $597 million, down from $625 million a year earlier.
Stewart points out that 2010 was a record year for Fulbright and predicts that 2013 could be another.
“The fourth quarter of 2012 was huge for us,” he says. “Transactional, healthcare, energy, dispute resolution – all are thriving practice areas for us. We are doing fine economically and we will be doing just fine in the future.”
Internally, Fulbright partners have nothing but praise for Stewart, who is an avid hunter and golfer. They say he has promoted transparency and shown strong leadership.
“Ken’s entire focus has been on client services,” says a long-time Fulbright partner. “He’s met personally with our lawyers and he’s met one-on-one with many of our clients to explain how the merger will work for them.”
“Ken may publicly deny it, but I’m sure he’s a little sad that Fulbright & Jaworski as its own law firm will soon be gone,” says another Fulbright lawyer who has worked with Stewart in negotiating the combining of the two law firms. “But no one has worked harder to make sure that this move is right for us and for our clients than Ken Stewart.”
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