Rob Reedy of Porter Hedges. Courtesy photo

Rob Reedy, managing partner of Houston's Porter Hedges since mid-2009, just dug into  another four-year term, but he expects his run to end in 2024 when a younger successor takes over.

"The plan is to have a new managing partner in four years," the 66-year-old Reedy said, noting that his anticipated 14-year tenure is a long time for one lawyer to lead a firm.

"It's not me being tired. It's time for change. It's time for new ideas," he said.

Over the next four years, Reedy, a corporate transactional lawyer, will focus on growing the 115-lawyer firm's client roster and its lawyers.

"What that means is that we are going to continue to invest in people—both hiring out of law school and laterals—but also in diversity and wellness and leadership training," Reedy said.

The firm, with a solid roster of energy industry clients, is about two-thirds transactional and one-third litigation.

With just two offices in Houston and Oklahoma City, Porter Hedges outpaced the growth rate of many larger Texas-based firms in 2018. Revenue increased by 9.5% to $83.8 million and net income grew by 13.6% that year, even as lawyer head count remained steady. Reedy said the firm is still crunching numbers, but he is "feeling good" about the financial results for 2019.

To kick off the succession planning process, Reedy said, a committee will confer with lawyers across the firm about what the managing partner role should look like, and who might be interested in the job. He said the committee may decide to recommend a job description for the new managing partner vastly different from how he's been doing the job.

"The committee has a broad mandate to look at everything," he said.

While acknowledging that other firms have been tending to appoint younger managing partners, Reedy pointed out that Porter Hedges in 2019 eliminated its mandatory retirement requirement, which had been set at age 70. Reedy said a number of partners are closing in on that age, and have very active practices and no desire to retire.

"That wasn't because of me," Reedy said. "We just wanted to do it."

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