Ernie Choquette. Courtesy photoStevens & Lee Plots Future Under New Chairman, Long-Term Succession Plan
Ernie Choquette will continue as CEO and chairman, while he passes some administrative duties along to the firm's new COO, Steve Mauro.
January 03, 2020 at 04:02 PM
3 minute read
Stevens & Lee has named its longtime CEO as its new chairman as part of a larger leadership transition plan.
Ernie Choquette, who has been the firm's CEO for 10 years, will take over the chairman role at the law firm Stevens & Lee and its affiliated companies, which all fall under the Stevens & Lee/Griffin platform. He succeeds Joseph Harenza, who has led the firm as chairman for 22 years.
It was long assumed that Reading-based Choquette would be Harenza's successor, Choquette said in an interview Friday, and the shareholders officially voted in spring 2019 for him to take on the role at the beginning of this year. He noted that he realistically will not be in the role for as long as Harenza was, but his term as chairman is part of a broader transition.
"I'm going to stay in this role as long as it takes for the platform to move ahead" to where the next generation can take over, he said.
Choquette said he will continue as CEO, but he will be passing some of the administrative tasks to the firm's new chief operating officer, Steven Mauro. Mauro was previously the CEO for Lancaster firm Brubaker Connaughton Goss & Lucarelli, and was a COO for Fisher & Phillips and Drinker Biddle & Reath before that.
"That's a significant piece of what we're doing here," Choquette said. "Bringing a COO in allows me to spend more time being chairman and less time being CEO."
Harenza will continue to work with non-legal businesses on the Stevens & Lee/Griffin platform, the firm said.
"We have been working on this succession strategy for some time and I am confident that under new leadership our professionals will continue to deliver superior outcomes for our clients," he said in a statement.
The succession strategy included a number of other leadership changes. Steven Buck, E. Thomas Henefer, Edward Renenger, Lisa Scidurlo, Stacey Scrivani, William Thornton Jr. and Jay Wagner were all named to practice group leadership positions in the last two years, and Matthew O'Leary was appointed CEO of Griffin Financial group, one of several non-legal affiliate businesses.
Choquette said the firm always had an emergency contingency plan in place, but started working on a succession plan "in the normal course" about three years ago.
"We view transition and succession in a broad sense as opposed to just focusing at the top," he said. All of the firm's practices and business entities are "part of the plan," he said.
Under the new leaders, he said the firm will likely add new practice areas and lines of business.
The Stevens & Lee/Griffin platform already includes the 180-lawyer full-service law firm and the Kent Franchise Law Group, a boutique that handles franchising, distribution and IP matters.
The other entities are Griffin Financial group, an investment bank; SES ESOP, which provides services for employee stock ownership plans; Financial S&Lutions, which provides swap and derivative advisory to governments and nonprofits; Griffin/Stevens &Lee Tax and Consulting Network; Pinnacle Risk Services, which provides D&O and E&O insurance consulting; and a government affairs and public policy unit.
Across its footprint, Stevens & Lee/Griffin has 19 offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Ohio, Virginia, Texas, South Carolina and Florida.
|Read More
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Seven Rules of the Road for Managing Referrals To/From Other Attorneys, Part 1
7 minute read
Matt's Corner: RPC 8.4(d)—Conduct Prejudicial to the Administration of Justice
2 minute read
The Moving Goalposts of Overtime Exemption: Texas Judge Invalidates 2024 Salary Threshold Rule
5 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
