News Releases

Schiff Hardin LLP Partner Lisa A. Brown Named Partner in Charge of Associate Development

January 01, 2008

Lisa A. Brown, a Chicago-based Schiff Hardin litigation partner who has concentrated her practice on complex commercial cases and class action defense, has been named the Partner-in-Charge of Associate Development, a new firm position, effective January 1, 2008.

Ronald S. Safer, Schiff Hardin's Managing Partner, announced Ms. Brown's new appointment and described her new duties:

"Our firm has always operated on the principle that associates are our colleagues and future partners, not simply the firm's employees. Having chosen the law as a profession, we chose to practice at this firm because we knew that the partnership was committed to our professional development. Those who joined as associates stayed and became partners because the generation before ours trained and mentored us. We value that tradition. In that spirit, I am delighted to announce that effective January 1, 2008, Lisa Brown will become the Partner-in-Charge of Associate Development.

The portfolio for this new position will be both broad and flexible, reflecting our commitment to professional excellence and recognizing the evolving nature of professional development issues. Lisa will work with firm and practice group management to coordinate the firm's approach to associate professional development issues. She will focus on staffing and workload issues, associates' pro bono commitments, and integration of first-year lawyers. She will be responsible for managing attorneys' leaves of absence and part-time and reduced hours arrangements. And she will be a resource to associates concerning professional development issues, and a liaison between associates and firm management concerning these issues.

Lisa is exceptionally well-suited for the job. Her affiliation with and commitment to the firm stretches back nearly 15 years – she was a summer associate in 1993, joined the firm in 1995, and became a partner in 2005. In tandem with developing a distinguished practice, she has had a keen focus on and an abiding commitment to associate professional development issues. For the past several years, she has been a member of the Law School Recruiting Committee, and she chaired our 2007 summer program. She personifies the excellence that we attempt to achieve in our service to clients and the firm."