Baker McKenzie offices in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALMBaker McKenzie Promotes From Within for New CMO
The promotion moves Wendy Bernero back into the legal marketing C-suite, four years after she left Big Law to form her own consultancy.
August 28, 2019 at 06:01 PM
3 minute read
Wendy Bernero, formerly the global director of business development at Chicago-founded Baker McKenzie, has been appointed the firm's new chief marketing officer. The 4,700-lawyer firm said she will oversee all marketing, business development and communications efforts.
Bernero was preceded by Laurie Robertson, who retired in early 2018. The firm said that although no one had the title of CMO since Robertson's departure, the "leadership function has been continuous."
Bernero said she joined Baker McKenzie in part to work with Robertson, with whom she has been friends for over 15 years. She said that his retirement came as a surprise.
"It was not part of the plan for me to come over and take over for him," she said. Between Robertson's retirement and now, Bernero said she slowly took on more and more responsibility as the firm set its marketing and business development priorities.
Wendy Bernero, CMO with Baker McKenzie.
"I'm proud to be part of this extraordinary organization," Bernero said in a statement. "And look forward to working with our high-caliber leadership team to advance the firm's mission to be the global law firm of choice for clients and talent."
"How we engage with our clients, building meaningful relationships and helping them navigate an increasingly complex world, is our top priority," said Jason Marty, global chief operating officer, in a statement. "Wendy brings both the experience and the vision to ensure that we succeed in this and we're excited about what's to come."
Two years before joining Baker McKenzie in September 2017, Bernero teamed up with former American Lawyer editor-in-chief Aric Press to form Bernero & Press, a legal consulting firm specializing in branding and client relationship development.
The bulk of the rest of her career was spent in CMO and senior Big Law marketing roles at several different firms, including Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; McKee Nelson; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson; and Proskauer Rose.
Bernero said the difference between running marketing operations for Baker McKenzie and her previous firms is simple: size. She said she won't be able to "jump into everything" herself and will be doing a lot more delegation and continuity development in order to handle the marketing needs of a firm of such sprawling size.
"Baker McKenzie has such potential and so many resources," she said.
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