Portland, Oregon-based law firm Stoel Rives has elected Melissa Jones, a Sacramento-based litigation partner, as its next managing partner.

Effective January 2020, Jones will replace Jim Torgerson, an Alaska-based partner who has served as the firm's managing partner since January 2016.

“We have a strategic plan that we adopted couple years ago, it is a five-year strategic plan, I am intending to continue working on implementing that strategic plan,” said Jones, when asked how she will run the firm. “As part of the plan, we are focusing on growth in all of our offices, but also emphasizing growth in certain sectors like our energy and natural resources practices.”

Jones will be the second woman to lead Stoel Rives in the last 15 years, and one of only 24 women currently serving as the managing partner of an Am Law 200 firm.

“I am very honored and humbled to be selected for this position by my colleagues, I am really proud that I work at a firm where gender wasn't a hindrance in serving in this type of leadership role,” she said. “I think this is where our profession is headed, we are behind [as a profession].”

Jones, who has been practicing in Sacramento, California, for nearly two decades, joined Stoel Rives from Greenberg Traurig in 2011. Prior to that, she spent nine years at Morrison & Foerster's Sacramento office, which closed in 2016. As a trial lawyer, Jones has represented clients in civil litigation in a range of industries, including agribusiness, food and beverage, and oil and gas.

She has also established and leads the firm's California Proposition 65 practice, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, which designed to protect California citizens by reducing exposures to toxic chemicals.

“Melissa is among our most accomplished firm leaders and lawyers. She is deeply committed to providing our clients with excellent service and value. She understands our markets, industries, attorneys and staff,” said Torgerson in a statement. He also noted her work on the firmwide compensation committee and managing the firm's California offices.

“I look forward to working with Melissa over the coming months to continue building momentum on the firm's client-focused practice. Melissa's leadership will guide us in the new decade to be an even stronger law firm—she has the firm's total confidence,” Torgerson added.

According to Jones, Stoel Rives has about 30 attorneys in its California locations, which include Sacramento, San Diego and San Francisco. Sacramento is the biggest office of the three.

“The Sacramento region has been a good fit for our energy and natural resources practice. We certainly have an interest in expanding in San Francisco as well, but it would be very focused on energy and natural resources,” Jones said.