© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden, JD
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(June 10) – Linda Addison has accomplished a lot in her life. The daughter of two Holocaust survivors, she spoke only Polish when she started kindergarten. In college, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. She’s been named one of the most influential women lawyers in America.
On Tuesday, Addison became the first woman to be named managing partner of Norton Rose Fulbright.
On the eve of the first anniversary of the combination of Fulbright & Jaworski and Norton Rose, the 3,800-lawyer global law firm elected Addison, a 1976 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, to lead its U.S. operations. The firm has 733 lawyers in the U.S., including 211 in Houston and 122 in Dallas, and reported total revenues of $1.9 billion in 2013.
Addison, a trial lawyer who splits her time between Houston and New York, replaces Dallas partner Kenneth Stewart, who took a medical leave of absence from the position in December to deal with cardiovascular issues. Stewart recently returned to the firm and has a newly created position called “non-executive U.S. Chair.”
“I think I’ve always had a sense of being able to defy long odds,” Addison told the Houston Chronicle in a 2008 interview. “I wanted to be Perry Mason and stand up in court and be the center of attention and talk while everyone listened and wear great clothes.”
Addison said she is pleased to be selected by her peers to lead the firm.
“I am committed to maintaining our culture and providing our lawyers with the support to provide superior legal service,” Addison said in a written statement. “We will continue to use our depth of legal experience and geographic reach to benefit our clients throughout the US and around the world.”
The National Law Journal named Addison one of the “50 Most Influential Women Lawyers in America” and one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in America.”
In 2009, the American Bar Association recognized Addison with its prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award, which recognizes the accomplishments of women lawyers who have achieved professional excellence and paved the way to success for other women.
In 2008, Houston Chronicle legal writer Mary Flood published an excellent profile of Addison that is well worth reading: www.chron.com/business/article/addison.
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