Saul Ewing Selects Baltimore Lawyer to Lead Firm

Saul Ewing has picked Baltimore partner and business and finance practice chair Barry F. Levin to be its next managing partner, effective January 21 of next year.

Levin, who was selected by partnership consensus in March, will assume the role from current managing partner David S. Antzis, who is required by firm policy to step down from the position when his second four-year term ends in January.

Antzis, who co-chairs the firm’s mergers and acquisitions group, told The Legal on Monday that he plans to devote more time to his practice.

“I’m primarily an M&A lawyer and hope to go back to that full-time,” Antzis said, noting that he’s maintained relationships with most of his major clients throughout his tenure as managing partner, but that their interactions have consisted mostly of “consulting with them at a 5,000-foot-level.”

Antzis said once he finishes his managing partner term he may look to become a bit more involved in those client relationships, while also helping to bring in new clients and assisting other partners with their transactions.

Levin, meanwhile, will hand over the reins of the business and finance practice to an as-yet-unnamed successor. He will also step down from his roles as co-chair of the firm’s dental practice transitions group and chair of the family business practice.

Levin does, however, plan to continue his practice, which focuses on commercial, real estate, finance, and trusts and estates law, according to Antzis.

Levin joined Saul Ewing in 2003 from Baltimore-based Siskind Grady Rosen Hoover & Levin, now known as Siskind Grady Rosen & Hoover.

He was named chair of Saul Ewing’s business and finance practice in 2011.

Antzis said that, under the partnership agreement, the executive committee must consult with the firm’s partnership before nominating a managing partner candidate.

During the course of those conversations, Levin’s name came up frequently and he was eventually elected by consensus, Antzis said.

Recruiter Frank D’Amore said picking Levin to lead the firm makes sense, as he has a reputation for being a very good lawyer and, like Antzis, focuses his practice on business transactional work, an area the firm is focused on growing.

Levin could not be reached for comment at press time.

According to Antzis, who is based in Saul Ewing’s Chesterbrook office in the Philadelphia suburb of Wayne, Pa., Levin will be the first managing partner in the firm’s history to be based outside the Philadelphia area but has committed to spending a significant portion of his time in Philadelphia.

Antzis said Levin has already begun sitting in on executive committee meetings as well as lateral recruitment meetings.

When Levin takes over in January, Saul Ewing will join the short list of Pennsylvania-based firms with firmwide leadership headquartered elsewhere.

That list includes Philadelphia-based Pepper Hamilton, whose chief executive officer, Scott Green, and executive committee chair, Louis J. Freeh, are both based in New York; Philadelphia-based Dechert, whose chairman, Andrew J. Levander, is based in New York; and Blue Bell, Pa.-based Nelson Levine de Luca & Hamilton, whose chairman, Michael R. Nelson, is based in New York.

Antzis said that while having a managing partner based out-of-state will be a bit of a change, it will ultimately serve as a reflection of the firm’s culture as a close-knit group of offices that work together across geographic boundaries.

“I think it’s a positive thing for our firm to show that we don’t really have a headquarters,” Antzis said.

Antzis also noted that firm Chief Operating Officer Jennifer K. Peterson and Chief Financial Officer Paul S. Levy are both based in Philadelphia.

D’Amore said it’s likely more and more firms will look to appoint leadership in other offices in the future.

“I think this is going to become more commonplace because it’s a way of keeping the firm integrated,” D’Amore said. “It’s a way for firms to show others in other offices that not all of the power and decision-making necessarily comes out of the original founding office.”

According to D’Amore, while this leadership model can present challenges at first — particularly for those attorneys who are accustomed to being able to walk down the hall and talk to the firm head — it will become more manageable over time as technology continues to advance.

D’Amore is a columnist for The Legal.

Reflecting on his time as managing partner while also looking toward the future, Antzis said he thinks the firm has become more aggressive in its growth in recent years and will continue on that track.

“We’ve gone from being a Mid-Atlantic firm to being kind of a super-regional firm in the Northeast,” Antzis said, adding that the firm remains interested in expanding geographically but does not aim to become a national or international firm.

In the past two years alone, the firm has opened Pittsburgh and Boston offices.

Antzis said Saul Ewing is in good financial shape as well, with no partner guarantees or long-term debt.

“I think we’re a lot more profitable now than we were eight years ago,” Antzis said.

In 2012, the firm grew its revenue by 7.8 percent, from $122.5 million to $132 million, and its profits per equity partner by 12 percent, from $500,000 to $560,000.

Zack Needles can be contacted at 215-557-2493 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ZNeedlesTLI.