The 2025 Lawdragon 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know

Barbara Becker of Gibson Dunn, Deborah Chang of Chang | Klein and Athea Trial Lawyers, and Ishan Bhabha of Jenner & Block.

Deborah Chang had achieved more success as a plaintiff lawyer than she could ever have imagined. She won millions for individuals who suffered horrific harms while winning systemic reforms.

As a leader for women lawyers, she was inspired to ask how she could do more. She left her prestigious and lucrative partnership at Panish Shea in Los Angeles – and formed not one firm, but two: Chang|Klein as well as Athea Trial Lawyers, a collective who’s who of top female trial lawyers banding together to take on the toughest cases, while still largely running their own firms.

Barbara Becker, also, thought she could make a difference for one of the nation’s most elite law firms, Gibson Dunn. A top dealmaker, she had founded the firm’s diversity committee and notched success both as an internal voice for change and as an exquisite M&A lawyer. In 2021, she became the firm’s first female chair and managing partner.

Chang and Becker are two of the 31 female law firm leaders we are honored to recognize in The 2025 Lawdragon 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know.

This guide is caught in a moment in which the focus on law firms has never been more intense, with headline debate on the purpose, profit and prospects of the nation’s most high-profile corporate law firms. Many of their leaders are included here, alongside representatives from firms large and small, corporate and litigation, plaintiff and defense, all selected for their roles founding, growing, leading and innovating on behalf of a legal enterprise seeking change, profit, to be a home, a voice.

Some are an Xbox, others more Atari. But all are dedicated to one of the hardest roles a lawyer can take on: professionally herding lawyers and shaping their passions and skills into a successful outcome for a client.

The task is made infinitely more complex by the tsunami of a world-class revenge tour lasered on the business end of a profession that still meanders into politics and social change while operating as the legal equivalent of a hedge fund.

Washington, D.C. litigation partner Ishan Bhabha was selected as Jenner co-managing partner last year, and now is tasked alongside Energy and Corporate lawyer Randy Mehrberg with guiding the firm through its high-profile duel.

The leaders of America’s ultra-firms are often lavished with praise; we recognize the founders, chairs and managing partners of 15 of the most successful, as defined by monetary achievement, here. They typically generate more than $1B a year in revenue (a mark achieved by more than 60 U.S. firms) while surpassing $5M a year in profits per partner.

Topping the list is Kirkland chairman, Jon Ballis, whose revenue was more than $8B last year, $101M of it alone from Blackstone. The top firm in profits per partner, in 2023, was Wachtell, with a mark of $8.5M for its 90 equity partners. No firm has been as meteoric or acquisitive in the past decade as Paul, Weiss under Chairman Brad Karp, who took the reins in 2008 amidst his defense of the NFL in concussion litigation. Karp was best known for transforming Paul Weiss into one of the nation’s most admired and profitable before Trump’s “target the lawyers” campaign took hold.

Should firms be businesses? How to balance being an employer with any duty to the legal system? Is a settlement a price to pay or a bending of the knee? Whither a duty to firm, country or commerce? Karp’s settlement – facilitated by Sullivan & Cromwell and Quinn Emanuel partners included here – with the president has been followed by a growing string of preemptive settlements by fellow ultra-firm leaders to the tune of howls from throughout the legal profession and firm associates. Also included here are leaders from Jenner and WilmerHale, who are fighting their censures to great acclaim.

Everyone has an opinion, but it’s the lawyers recognized here and their fellow leaders on the line. Dallas to D.C., New York to Nashville; a managing partner who built one firm, sold it to a global behemoth, and came back for round two; a managing partner who successfully argued a $400M state Supreme Court case the day he co-founded his law firm; a Sikh lawyer who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 8 and now leads one of the nation’s most elite firms; the co-managing partners who took the reins of the nation’s two leading litigation firms and helped them soar even higher.

Among the great joys of researching this guide are the submissions from firms of all stripes and the innovation, focus and drive lawyers bring to their firms. We appreciate the excellent submissions, which we paired with our journalistic research and an obsession with law firms to create this guide. We first published it in 2008, and the changes in the face of these leaders is refreshing. Their machines are human, their capital can walk out the door. Yet when combined in new ways, worlds, causes and commerce can all be conquered.

A special recognition to some enduring leaders, who were recognized as well in our inaugural guide: Steven Fineman of Lieff Cabraser, Regina Pisa of Goodwin Procter, Quinn, Karp, and Stuart Liner, now of Liner Freedman.

Honorees with an asterisk are members of our esteemed Hall of Fame. 

First	Last	Organization	Location	Title
Brett	Amron	Bast Amron	Miami	Founder
Jon A.	Ballis	Kirkland & Ellis	Chicago	Chairman
Neil	Barr	Davis Polk	New York	Chair and Managing Partner
Chad	Baruch	Johnston Tobey Baruch	Dallas	Managing Shareholder
Barbara L.	Becker	Gibson Dunn	New York	Chairman, Managing Partner
N. John	Bey	Bey & Associates	Atlanta	Founder
Ishan K.	Bhabha	Jenner & Block	Washington, D.C.	Co-Managing Partner
Vineet	Bhatia	Susman Godfrey	Houston	Managing Partner
Michael J.	Blankenship	Winston & Strawn	Houston	Managing Partner, Houston
Trey	Branham	Dean Omar Branham Shirley (DOBS)	Dallas	Founding Partner
Rebecca	Bratter	Greenspoon Marder	Fort Lauderdale, Fla.	Deputy Managing Partner
Russell	Budd	Baron & Budd	Dallas	President & Managing Shareholder
William A.	Burck	Quinn Emanuel	Washington, D.C.	Global Co-Managing Partner
Michael B.	Carlinsky	Quinn Emanuel	New York	Global Co-Managing Partner
William H.	Chamblee	Chamblee Ryan	Dallas	Founding Partner, President, Managing Partner
Deborah	Chang	Chang Klein/Athea Trial Lawyers	El Segundo, Calif.	Founder
Shauna	Clark	Norton Rose Fulbright	Houston	U.S. Chair
Douglas J.	Clark	Wilson Sonsini	Palo Alto	Managing Partner
Jeff	Cody	Norton Rose Fulbright	Dallas	Global Managing Partner
Sandra	Cohen	Cohen & Buckmann	New York	Founder
Dean	Colson*	Colson Hicks	Coral Gables, Fla.	Managing Partner
Aedamar	Comiskey	Linklaters	London	Senior Partner and Chair
C. Wade	Cooper	Jackson Walker	Austin	Managing Partner
Steve	D'Amore	Winston & Strawn	Chicago	Chairman
Georgia	Dawson	Freshfields	London	Senior Partner
Marie-Aimée	de Damipierre	HoganLovells	Paris	Chair
Mark	DiCello	DiCello Levitt	Cleveland	Founder
Jaime	Drozd	Davis Wright Tremaine	Seattle	Managing Partner
Melody H.	Eagan	Lightfoot Franklin & White	Birmingham, Ala.	Managing Partner
Scott A.	Edelman	Milbank	New York	Chairman
David	Elsberg	Elsberg Baker & Maruri	New York	Founder
Marc K.	Erickson	Wagstaff & Cartmell	Kansas City, Mo.	Managing Partner
Bryan	Fears	Fears Law	Dallas	Founder
Amanda L.	Fernandez	Rivero Mestre	Miami	Managing Partner
Steven	Fineman	Lieff Cabraser	New York	Managing Partner
Julie E.	Fink	Hecker Fink	New York	Managing Partner
Elaine	Fitch	Kalijarvi Chuzi Newman & Fitch	Washington, D.C.	Managing Partner
Kenneth H.	Frenchman	Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna	New York	Managing Partner
Jonathan	Gardner	Labaton	New York	Managing Partner
Eric	Garner	Best Best & Krieger	Los Angeles	Managing Partner
Robert J.	Giuffra Jr.	Sullivan & Cromwell	New York	Co-Chair
Donald	Godwin*	Godwin Bowman	Dallas	Founder, Chairman/CEO
David C.	Greenstone	Simon Greenstone Panatier	Dallas	Founder, Managing Shareholder
Rusty	Hardin*	Rusty Hardin and Associates	Houston	Founder
Robert D.	Hays	King & Spalding	Atlanta	Chairman
Dara	Hegar	Lanier Law Firm	Houston	Firm Managing Attorney
Julie H.	Jones	Ropes & Gray	Boston	Chair
Barbaros	Karaahmet	Herrick Feinstein	New York	Chief Operating Partner
Brad S.	Karp	Paul Weiss	New York	Chairman
Christianne F.	Kerns	Hahn & Hahn	Pasadena, Calif.	CEO, Managing Partner
Anthony J.	Kuhn	Tully Rinckey	Buffalo, N.Y.	Managing Partner
Charles J.	LaDuca	Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca	Washington, D.C.	Chairman
Mark	Lanier	Lanier Law Firm	Houston	Founder
Monica W.	Latin	Carrington Coleman	Dallas	Managing Partner
Kristina D.	Lawson	Hanson Bridgett	San Francisco	Managing Partner
Kelli	Lester	Morgan & Morgan	Nashville	Managing Partner, Nashville
Jeremy A.	Lieberman	Pomerantz	New York	Managing Partner
Stuart	Liner	Liner Freedman	Los Angeles	Managing Partner
Jeremy D.	London	Skadden	New York	Executive Partner
Frank	Lopez	Paul Hastings	New York	Chair
Kenneth T.	Lumb	Corboy & Demetrio	Chicago	Managing Partner
Angela M.	Machala	Winston & Strawn	Los Angeles	Managing Partner, Los Angeles
Cary	McGehee	Pitt McGehee Palmer Bonanni & Rivers	Royal Oak, Mich.	Founding Partner
Jami	McKeon	Morgan Lewis	Philadelphia	Chair
Randy	Mehrberg	Jenner & Block	Chicago	Co-Managing Partner
Tom	Melsheimer*	Winston & Strawn	Dallas	Managing Partner, Dallas
Alden	Millard	Simpson Thacher	New York	Chairman, Executive Committee
Jason S.	Miller	Morgan & Morgan	Jacksonville, Fla.	Managing Partner, Jacksonville
Scott D.	Miller	Sullivan & Cromwell	New York	Co-Chair
Thomas L.	Mitchell	Moore & Van Allen	Charlotte, N.C.	Chair, Managing Partner
John	Morgan	Morgan & Morgan	Orlando	Founder
Andrew	Nussbaum	Wachtell	New York	Co-Chair Executive Committee
George F.	Ogilvie III	McDonald Carano	Las Vegas	Managing Partner
Joseph G.	Petrosinelli	Williams & Connolly	Washington, D.C.	Chairman
Regina	Pisa*	Goodwin Procter	Boston	Chairman Emeritus
John	Quinn*	Quinn Emanuel	Los Angeles	Executive Chairman
David C.	Rose	Pryor Cashman	New York	Managing Partner
Faiza J.	Saeed	Cravath	New York	Presiding Partner
Anjan	Sahni	WilmerHale	New York	Managing Partner
William	Savitt	Wachtell	New York	Co-Chair Executive Committee
Grant	Schmidt	Hilgers Graben	Dallas	Managing Partner, Dallas
John	Schouest	SBSB Eastham	Houston	Founder, Managing Partner
Belinda G.	Schwartz	Herrick Feinstein	New York	Executive Chair
Chris	Schwegmann	Lynn Pinker Hurst Schwegmann	Dallas	Managing Partner
John	Shackelford	Shackelford	Dallas	Founder
Jeffrey S.	Sharp	Marshall Gerstein & Borun	Chicago	Managing Partner
Gerald	Singleton	Singleton Schreiber	San Diego	Managing Partner
Walied	Soliman	Norton Rose Fulbright	Toronto	Global Chair
Sarah K.	Solum	Freshfields	Redwood City, Calif.	U.S. Managing Partner
Kalpana	Srinivasan	Susman Godfrey	Los Angeles	Managing Partner
John B.	Thomas	Hicks Thomas	Houston	Co-Founder
Tad	Thomas	Thomas Law Offices	Louisville, Ky.	Founder
Richard M.	Trobman	Latham & Watkins	London	Chair and Managing Partner
Christopher	Trowbridge	Bell Nunnally	Dallas	Managing Partner
Jessie	Weber	Brown Goldstein & Levy	Baltimore	Managing Partner
Peter	Weil	Glaser Weil	Los Angeles	Managing Partner
Tony	White	Thompson Hine	Columbus and Cleveland	Firmwide Managing Partner
R. Hackney	Wiegmann	Williams & Connolly	Washington, D.C.	Managing Partner
Beth	Wilkinson	Wilkinson Stekloff	Washington, D.C.	Founder
Donna	Williams Rucker	Tully Rinckey	Washington, D.C.	Managing Partner
Donna L.	Wilson	Manatt	Los Angeles	CEO, Managing Partner
Thomas C.	Wright	Wright Close & Barger	Houston	Founding Partner
John	Zavitsanos	AZA	Houston	Founding Partner
Ryan	Zehl	Zehl & Associates	Houston	Founder