Akerman CEO Scott Meyers.

After five months officially shadowing longtime Akerman leader Andrew Smulian, Chicago-based partner Scott Meyers has officially taken over as head of the Am Law 100 firm.

His appointment marks the first time Akerman has been led by a non-Floridian. Meyers joined Akerman from Ulmer & Berne in 2014 and was tasked with building its nascent Chicago location as the office's managing partner. The outpost rapidly grew from eight to 55 attorneys. And in 2018, Meyers was promoted to firmwide managing partner before he was voted in as chairman and CEO.

Meyers spoke with The Daily Business Review about his plans for the firm, and how it will compete in a climate of consolidation and scale currently in vogue in Big Law. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

DBR: How would define your leadership style? Compare and contrast your style with Smulian's.

SM: I would say my style is collaborative and consensus-building. I very much believe the role of leadership is to empower our attorneys to become great and to have them succeed. A big part of that is also leading by example. At Akerman, we say culture is not something you say but do.

Jack Welch [former CEO and chairman of General Electric] said that before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself and once you become a leader it's all about growing others. And I think that really captures the essence of what leadership at Akerman is all about. It's really making sure we are helping others become their very best selves. And I think Andrew and I are cut from a very similar cloth on that.

With the understanding that people have been really happy with the progress made over the years, there's a desire to have a very similar style in leadership. I think the firm will not be disappointed in that.

DBR: Given recent trends toward consolidation, will Akerman resist the urge to consolidate? How will the firm compete with scale? 

SM: Growing for growth's sake breeds a few problems, not the least of which is if growth isn't based on client drive and client demand and client need, then it begs the question: What's the point of doing it? The second issue is if you're growing just to get bigger you're going to have to abandon your core culture and just go for size. I think you see that throughout the legal community. To me the trend isn't just about consolidation, it's the ubiquity among the sea of sameness. Law firms seem to be chasing the same model and all combining into the same type of firm.

That's certainly one model and clearly it can be successful. But I think it comes at a very high cost to your people, your clients and your community.

Our growth has been through acquisition of other firms, some of it has been through organic growth, and some of it has been a combination of both, by acquiring a small firm and then growing them out. But through all of that, it is imperative that we make sure that when we're acquiring other firms we have a passion to preserve the culture.

I think we will continue to grow in the markets we already are in. We're going to remain committed to our significant presence in Florida, and we will be looking for new markets where our clients want us and need us to be.

DBR: What do you think is the significance of being the first non-Floridian to lead Akerman?

SM: I think it allows for external perception to keep up with the objective reality of who we are as a firm. For a long time, we've been a national law firm with a significant Florida presence rather than just a Florida law firm with a few national offices. This new location of the chairmanship is consistent with what Akerman has been and what it continues to want to be: a national firm, although we are very mindful and respectful of our Florida roots, where we have a significant presence and will continue to have a significant presence.

DBR: Florida seems to be going through another round of entrants. Morrison & Foerster came in; Baker McKenzie expanded. Dentons said it's committed to Florida in a big way. How will Akerman respond to new entrants, especially big vereins like Dentons?

SM: Well, No.1, I think that the more entrants we get in Florida, the easier it is for people to see the differences between Akerman and traditional Big Law. That is very empowering for us. We do well in competitive markets. If you look around the country, we've grown in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston.

It's not really about moving Akerman to Chicago from Florida, it's about bringing the Florida values and cultures that created this firm to the rest of the country. We've been around for 100 years in Florida, and we are still one of the largest firms in the state. That's not by accident, that's by design. Having more people there will not have an adverse effect on being able to maintain that standing.

DBR: Can you be more specific on what situations and scenarios Akerman would approach differently than another Big Law firm?

SM: So Akerman is fundamentally about helping lawyers develop prolifically, meaning across all the different facets of what it means to be a lawyer. It's not just about pushing somebody else's heavy rock up somebody else's steep hill. It's about helping people learn to be great lawyers, developing state-of-the-art best-in-class legal services, but it's also about teaching people how to provide client service, how to understand law firm economics, how to acquire the skill sets necessary to be a partner.

All of our lawyers, from the most junior person to the senior attorney, have their own personal travel and entertainment budget so they can go out and try and develop business. That is a reflection of our commitment to having people who are so inclined to learn how to develop that set of skills beyond just learning how to do deals and litigation and advising clients.

The fact is that we incentivize people to work together and share clients and bring in new matters for existing clients and to not have sharp elbows on how we manage internal allocation of credit. The fact is that it does not require an act of Congress to get anything done, but a phone call to the practice group leader.

We have this crazy idea that lawyers know best what clients want and need. It's our job as management to empower our lawyers to delight our clients. If you get happy clients you get happy lawyers, which makes for a very happy law firm.

Read More:

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