DLA Piper's two incoming U.S. managing partners—Chicago-based restructuring attorney Richard Chelsey and Los Angeles-based real estate attorney Jackie Kim Park—didn't expect to be steering the firm through churning waters as soon as they stepped into their new roles.

"The paradigm has fundamentally shifted in the last six weeks," Chelsey said Monday.

The pair officially started in the new positions April 2, but they'd been working closely for the last several months with Stasia Kelly, who served as U.S. managing partner for seven years, before moving into the role of executive director of client relations.