After 20 years with James Skochdopole at the helm of Bell Nunnally, the Dallas midsize firm's partners elected litigator Christopher Trowbridge as the new managing partner, effective Sept. 1.

Skochdopole will become managing partner emeritus. Additionally, partner Tammy Wood was named chair of the firm's litigation section, succeeding Trowbridge.

Trowbridge said he is honored to move into the managing partner job at a firm he joined at age 27.

"I've been an associate, a non-equity partner, an equity partner, chairman of the marketing committee, chair of the litigation section. I love this place," he said.

By Trowbridge's assessment, Bell Nunnally thrived under Skochdopole's leadership. The firm doubled its lawyer count and quadrupled its revenue over the last two decades, he said, and also recently added practice areas including white-collar defense and intellectual property.

Also, because the Dallas legal market is so active, with numerous out-of-state firms opening offices in north Texas, the firm has taken steps to retain associates not only with money and attention to diversity, but with a mentorship program, he said.

Trowbridge's immediate goals include expanding the 60-lawyer firm's strength in M&A, high-stakes litigation and sophisticated real estate transactions.

"We want to be as full-service as possible. We are mid-level, so you can't be as full-service as a 1,000-lawyer firm, but we try to get as full-service as we can," he said.

Skochdopole could not immediately be reached for comment, but he wrote in a press release that Trowbridge is an "outstanding leader steeped in the 'Bell Nunnally Way.'"  Trowbridge joined Bell Nunnally just a few months after Skochdopole became managing partner.

Litigator Trowbridge handles complex business disputes. In 2017, he won a $23.1 million jury verdict for a national cattle broker in a matter involving a check kiting scheme and fraudulent cattle transactions.

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