Perkins Coie offices in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

A month after elevating its Washington, D.C., managing partner as its next firmwide leader, Perkins Coie has picked a new partner to manage its operations in the capital, where the Seattle-based firm has 250 lawyers and staff and a top political law practice.

The firm named Bruce Spiva, a partner in D.C. since 2015, as its local managing partner. Spiva will be taking over for William Malley, who will assume leadership of the full 1,100-lawyer firm in July.

“It's been exciting to see and be a part of Perkins Coie's rapid growth in the nation's capital,” said Spiva in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to build on this progress, particularly as we approach the Washington, D.C., office's 40th anniversary this summer.”

Spiva, a litigator, has tried a varied array of cases, according to his firm bio. He has argued congressional redistricting and voting rights, civil rights, class actions, First Amendment cases and antitrust law.

He's also an active member of the firm's political law practice, including handling high-profile matters for the Democratic National Committee, a key Perkins Coie client. Among those cases, he helped to successfully fend off a lawsuit brought by supporters of Bernie Sanders who claimed the DNC defrauded donors by favoring Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential primaries.

Bruce Spiva, a partner with Perkins Coie. Courtesy photo.

“Bruce is an excellent choice to continue the impressive growth and strengthened commitment to diversity and pro bono efforts that we saw under Bill's leadership over the past nine years,” said John Devaney, Perkins Coie's current managing partner.

Spiva said that one of the things he is going to be working on is balancing the responsibility of his new position with his practice. He is still going to be working with clients, and said that in his first week as the office managing partner in Perkins Coie's second largest office, he “hasn't been practicing much law this week” and is looking forward to finding that balance.

He mentioned the growth the office had during Malley's nine-year tenure, and while he didn't have any grand plans for change at this point, he did want to continue Malley's efforts around diversity and collaborative efforts between the attorneys.

“I want to continue to encourage collegiality and collaboration across the practice areas,” Spiva said.

Spiva is active in the D.C. legal community, serving on the board of the D.C. Bar Foundation, as a co-chairman of the D.C. Bar Litigation Section Steering Committee and is on the advisory board of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies and the American Antitrust Institute.

“Bruce has an excellent reputation throughout the firm and in the D.C. legal community,” Devaney said. “His dedication and leadership skills make him well-suited to manage the firm's fastest-growing and second-largest office.”

Before joining Perkins Coie, Spiva was the managing partner of his own firm, the Spiva Law Firm, which he founded after leaving the partnership at Jenner & Block.

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