Just a week in, March is already turning out to be another busy month for law firm C-suite and professional moves.

Former Jones Day global director of business development Despina Kartson has found a new home as the chief marketing officer at Baker & Hostetler. Former Weil, Gotshal & Manges communications director Amy Fantini is taking a communications director role at Willkie Farr & Gallagher. And Goodwin Procter is placing Maureen Naughton into a newly created chief innovation officer role. All three are based in New York.

Law firm professional posts appear to be a particularly dynamic area these days, driven by sometimes-fickle demand and by executives' appetite for change—including an opportunity to have more input on strategy and greater interaction with clients.

Recent research has shown that marketing professionals, for example, are gradually taking on greater strategic management responsibilities at large law firms—catching up with their counterparts in other industries.

Despina C. Kartson Despina C. Kartson Chief Marketing Officer with Baker & Hostetler (Courtesy photo)

Kartson, a legal marketing veteran who has held senior positions at Latham & Watkins and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in addition to Jones Day, brings close to two decades of experience to Baker & Hostetler, where she will report directly to the managing partner.

"This is a very exciting time for the firm," Kartson said in an interview. "There is a formal, strategic plan here and that is sort of a guiding light for the firm's development going forward. It's a great approach."

She said the firm has a strong team in place already, and that she will spend a great deal of time early on getting to know the staff, what they can do and how they can better work with stakeholders both inside the firm and clients outside of it.

Kartson, who inherits a squad of around 50 marketing and business development professionals, said that she is going to focus on talent management as well as technology implementation as she gets her bearings in the new role.

"There is a lot of competition for talent, so that is something that CMOs need to focus on," she said.

Kartson said it was critical to her that her new firm has a strong strategic plan, that marketing is integrated into that plan and that the firm has a culture that respects the knowledge business professionals bring to the table.

She said that is not the case at every firm.

"The concept of having a seat at the table is really an important one," Kartson said. "I think that firm cultures differ in how much they embrace the notion of seasoned business professionals participating actively in the strategy."

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