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Goodwin Procter, a Boston-founded law firm, will have a new leader this fall. Anthony McCusker, based in Silicon Valley, has been chosen to be the law firm’s next chair, effective October 1st. McCusker is a well-known tech lawyer who has been with Goodwin since 2010. He was co-chair of Goodwin’s technology practice before being elected for the firmwide leadership position.
Goodwin said that McCusker would work alongside managing partner Mark Bettencourt to drive strategic initiatives at the firm. He will succeed Robert Insolia, who has led the firm since 2019. “Goodwin’s success has been driven by relentlessly focusing on our strategy and our culture, and the partnership overwhelmingly feels Anthony is the right person to carry this torch forward,” Insolia said. Insolia will return to full-time practice at the end of his term, the firm said.
Goodwin has grown over the last decade, staking its claim on the convergence between private equity and life sciences and technology. The firm has been growing rapidly, with its headcount increasing by more than 45% to 1,633 attorneys over the last five years. According to figures reported by the American Lawyer, its gross revenue also soared at a similar rate to $2.21 billion in 2022.
However, like some other law firms that hired aggressively to meet the historical demand in 2021, Goodwin was forced to lay off associates, paralegals, and other professional staff across its offices amid a slowdown in legal work in January. The cuts meant a 5% reduction in the timekeeper and business operation population. The Boston-founded firm declined to make McCusker available for comment on the layoffs.
McCusker has represented many technology companies and their investors in the past. He has worked with the likes of Atlassian Corp., Eventbrite, Imperva, Okta Inc., Opower, Poshmark Inc, Twilio Inc., Xoom Corporation, and Zendes in their initial public offerings and the underwriters in the IPOs of Five9, Gigamon, Lyft Inc., Qualtrics International Inc., Marketo, Snap Inc., Talend, and Trulia. He has also worked with many emerging companies and venture capital firms in investment rounds and funding, like Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners.
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McCusker has represented Qualtrics in its $12.5 billion sale to Silver Lake and CCP Investments and Poshmark in its $1.6 billion sale to Naver Corporation. He has also advised The Washington Post Company on selling the newspaper and related publication assets to Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos and his private investment firm, Nash Holdings.
In addition to the recent layoffs, the firm has made strategic hires in key markets. Goodwin opened an office earlier this year in Philadelphia with 17 life sciences partners from Troutman Pepper. With McCusker at the helm, the firm hopes to continue on its trajectory of growth and success in the years to come.
“Thanks to the trust our clients put in us and to the commitment of our lawyers and business professionals, Goodwin has been and continues to be on an extraordinary trajectory,” McCusker said.
