Daryn Grossman, managing partner of Proskauer Rose

In another phase of the Proskauer Rose's leadership change, Daryn Grossman, one of two leaders of its corporate department, has been picked by new chairman Steven Ellis as the firm's managing partner.

Grossman and Ellis, both installed this month in their new roles, are charged with overseeing the New York firm's continuing growth, after an apparently healthy 2019. Grossman said in a Friday interview that the firm had cracked $1 billion in revenue in 2019 after clocking almost $978 million in 2018.

Specifically, Proskauer said the firm recorded $1.005 billion in revenue last year, a 2.8% increase over 2018, and had profits per partner of $2.75 million, a 3.3% increase over the $2.66 million racked up the year before.

Grossman, who joined Proskauer as a lateral partner in early 2003 and played a key role in the launch of the firm's life science practice, is in the process of taking over the day-to-day running of the firm from co-managing partner Bruce Lieb, who worked alongside former firm chair Joe Leccese for his nine-year term.

Grossman is coming in as managing partner just as Ellis, a co-chair of the firm's private credit group, succeeds Leccese, who was the firm's longest-serving chairman.

"Steve [Ellis] and I have led parallel lives at Proskauer," Grossman said, explaining how they both joined as laterals around 17 years ago, launched practices, and rose to leadership roles—Ellis on the executive committee and Grossman as a leader of the 350-lawyer corporate department.

She added that they "thought about practice development the same way" and both worked on a strategy committee that looked closely at strengthening and developing key practices, including private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and private investment funds.

Grossman, one of the few women in top leadership positions at Am Law 100 firms, said she'll continue to work with her clients and would also be very involved in "the strategy and real meat of the firm," not just its daily operations.

She said her priorities would include protecting the firm's "vibrant and entrepreneurial" culture, which she said was a key differentiator in the marketplace. The firm will also focus on continuing to build its private equity and M&A practice in markets where it's strong, including New York, London, Los Angeles and Boston, she said. 

"We've been focused on growing our transactional practices in New York and London and Boston, and we've been focused on high-level trial expertise in all of our offices, and I think we will continue with that," she said.

With Grossman taking the managing partner role, she said, her former corporate department co-chair Chip Parsons, a private funds partner, will continue to lead the department. Grossman said it was too early to say whether another co-chair will be appointed to work with Parsons.

In a statement, Ellis praised Lieb, the outgoing managing partner, calling him an embodiment of the firm's values. He also welcomed Grossman to her role, saying he is "thrilled" to work with her.

"Whether it has been building practices, building teams, or mentoring individuals, everything she has done has strengthened our firm and, more importantly, positioned us to provide our clients with extraordinary counsel," the statement said.

Grossman had previously been at Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, the San Francisco-based firm that rode Silicon Valley's rise and collapsed in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, and joined Proskauer in February 2003. She had led the New York technology practice of that firm.