Jones Day office in Manhattan, New York. Photo: Ryland West/ALM

Jones Day

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in the past year and how did you overcome them?

For our longstanding Firm clients, the results of our work, and our commitment to client service, have garnered the trust which begets new opportunities. But one of the biggest challenges each year for litigators and lawyers more generally—at Jones Day and elsewhere—is earning that trust with new clients and building those nascent relationships from the ground up. These new-client development efforts require focus and attention, as new clients come to understand our skills and capabilities, and you as counsel learn the preferences of the new client and needs for the matter. We take great pride when new clients trust us with their work, or when existing clients trust us to handle matters in a new substantive area. And, over the past year, we found continued success in these client-building efforts. For example, a client for which we have traditionally handled employment law matters retained us to handle a large multijurisdictional toxic tort and product liability matter, and another engaged us to challenge federal regulations with potentially harmful ramifications nationwide, in part due to success in related lawsuits for other clients that spoke highly of our work. In addition, a brand new client entrusted us with a transferred matter that included headwinds that developed prior to our involvement. In the end, whether maintaining existing relationships or building new ones, it all comes back to the importance that we place on unparalleled client service.

Hybrid work has been a major factor for law firms to wrestle with this year. What has your team's approach to the hybrid work environment been and how have you continued to foster a successful environment?