Blank Rome Announces 2023 Leadership Transition: Grant Palmer Elected Chair; Alan Hoffman to Transition to Chair Emeritus
Blank Rome LLP is pleased to announce that Managing Partner and CEO Grant S. Palmer has been elected Chair of the firm and will serve as Chair and Managing Partner, effective January 1, 2023. Current Chair Alan J. Hoffman will transition to Chair Emeritus.
“We are thrilled that as a result of our strategic succession-planning process, Grant has been elected to become Blank Rome’s next Chair, in addition to continuing in his role as Managing Partner and CEO,” said Hoffman. “For more than 30 years, I have had the pleasure of working closely with Grant in his many leadership roles at the firm. His combined talent, commitment, and experience has been a tremendous asset to our firm, our clients, and our communities—especially during the unique and challenging circumstances of the past several years—and I am confident that Grant will continue to guide our firm to new heights in his well-earned, expanded leadership role.”
Hoffman added, “It has been a tremendous honor serving Blank Rome as Chair and Managing Partner and then Chair for the past 15 years, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Grant, our leadership team, and our colleagues across the firm as Chair Emeritus.”
Palmer assumed the role of Managing Partner and CEO in January 2019. He previously served as firm-wide Litigation Department Chair and Commercial Litigation Practice Group Leader. He has served on many leadership committees at Blank Rome, including the firm’s Executive Committee, Partner Board, and Lateral Recruiting Committee. He founded and then chaired the firm’s Pro Bono Committee for 16 years and was involved in the implementation of mandatory pro bono requirements in 2014, which resulted in record-breaking participation and hours. He commits significant time to numerous professional and community organizations. Palmer graduated from Bucknell University in 1986 and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1989. He began his career as a federal law clerk to the Honorable Robert S. Gawthrop in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and joined Blank Rome in 1990 where he became a nationally recognized litigator with significant trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the country.
“I have been very fortunate to call Blank Rome my home for more than 30 years and am thrilled to now have the opportunity to serve the firm as its Chair and Managing Partner,” said Palmer. “This is a special law firm with outstanding attorneys who are committed to our core values of providing extraordinary client service, advancing diversity and fostering inclusiveness, serving the communities in which we live and work, and supporting one another in a collaborative environment. These values have served as the foundation upon which our firm has grown and advanced to meet the needs of our clients and communities for more than 75 years.”
Palmer added, “We have a proud history of incredible leaders in our firm who have helped us achieve great success, and I am honored and humbled to follow in the footsteps of a great leader like Alan Hoffman. His bold leadership has positioned us to serve our clients at the highest levels through the growth of our strong national platform.”
Hoffman joined Blank Rome in 1992. He served as the firm’s Litigation Department Chair from 1996 to 2008; Co-Chair of the firm from 2008 to 2013; Managing Partner from 2011 to 2018; and Chair from 2014 to 2022. Under his leadership, during the past 15 years Blank Rome has experienced a transformational period of steady financial progress and geographic expansion, moving from what had been a regional firm for six decades to a thriving firm with a significant national footprint. During that period, the firm opened offices in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Shanghai, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Pittsburgh, and Orange County; grew significantly in New York and Washington, D.C., more than doubling headcounts in both offices; and attracted numerous laterals across the country, including more than 100 attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro—the firm’s largest transaction in its 76-year history. Hoffman also contributed significantly to the firm’s culture and core values in many ways, including continuing the firm’s tradition of pro bono service; creating a vice-chair leadership position for practice groups, which has provided a unique opportunity for younger and diverse leaders to be more involved in firm management; and elevating the firm’s guiding vision of maintaining an environment where people of diverse backgrounds could practice law together through successful diversity and inclusion initiatives.