J. Tracy Walker, McGuireWoods managing partner, left, and Rich Davis, the firm's new COO, right.

After a major financial growth spurt, McGuireWoods is looking outside the legal industry to further fortify and diversify its management, hiring professional services veteran Richard Davis as its new chief operating officer.

Davis assumed the role of COO this week, the firm said, replacing Bob Couture who will be a senior research fellow at Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession.

In an interview, Davis, who has spent more than two decades working for professional services firms, most recently as a managing director of Navigant, said that although his background has been outside the legal industry, his experiences will transfer well to McGuireWoods.

"At the core, helping firms be successful is meeting and anticipating clients' needs and delivering high-value services," he said, adding that focusing on keeping employees happy and healthy was a necessary component of delivering the best-possible service to clients. "In conversations with leadership at McGuireWoods, taking care of employees—attorneys and staff support alike—was critical to McGuireWoods."

Managing partner J. Tracy Walker IV complimented Davis' strong leadership skills as well as how he has embraced technology and innovation.

"Our industry is changing very rapidly; the pace of that change seems to be accelerating daily sometimes," he said in an interview. "In the face of that, in looking for a new COO I was really looking for someone who can help us be where we want to be in five to 10 years from now, not just tomorrow or next year."

"[Davis] was really the complete package for us," Walker added, noting that Davis' focus on innovation and industry-focus approach makes him an ideal fit to lead the firm through its new, five-year strategic growth plan, which includes building out key practice areas such as energy, health care and government investigations as well as expanding in Texas and California.

McGuireWoods' revenue has grown steadily in recent years, and last year the firm boosted revenue by 14% and profits per equity partner by more than 33%, far outpacing most Am Law 100 peers. Its head count has also grown to more than 1,000 lawyers, a threshold it passed in 2017.

This commitment to growth and adaptation is part of what attracted Davis to McGuireWoods, he said.

"The firm is already in a great place, but we always have to anticipate clients' needs," Davis said, adding that as technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, changes how people and organizations do business, the firm will be primed to integrate new opportunities to serve clients.

"McGuireWoods is embracing the shift we see in the industry," he said.

Davis, who is African American, also highlighted the importance of diversity and inclusion—at his former professional services firm, he chaired its diversity and inclusion council—and said that during the interview process, he was pleased to learn that it was also a priority for McGuireWoods.

"They practice what they preach," he said of the firm, which elected Jon Harmon, who is also African American, as chair in 2017—still a rarity among major law firms.

Walker added that Davis' commitment to diversity and inclusion was an important factor when considering him for the role.

"Meaningful inclusion is championed from the top," he said. "Davis has a very collaborative leadership style. It's all about hiring the best people, supporting them and then getting out of the way and letting them do their jobs."

Walker said that Davis was the perfect candidate to fill the position formerly held for 15 years by Couture, who, after a transition period, will begin his fellowship at Harvard Law School.

"[Couture had] been a terrific leader for us for nearly 15 years, and the trajectory over his time at the firm has been consistently upward," he said. "[Couture] came from consulting and was an outstanding leader of our firm. Rich is going to build on that legacy an put his own stamp on it."

Walker continued: "We were looking for someone who can help us navigate the changing face of our industry. We had the luxury of bringing in someone from the outside—from a different industry—giving him time to learn the specifics of our firm and industry, and then bring fresh ideas to us."

Davis is relocating from New York to Washington, D.C., for the new role.

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