Shonette Gaston serves as Blank Rome’s Chief Operating Officer. In this role, she oversees the strategic business operations functions of the firm’s offices, practices, and departments, including finance, human resources, information services and technology, innovation, communications, client and business development, operations, and practice management. She also serves as a key strategic member of the firm’s Executive Committee and Partner Board.
Shonette has more than 25 years of senior-leadership law firm experience, providing governance and strategic guidance to firm leaders, attorneys, and all levels of professional administrative staff. She is actively engaged in critical firm initiatives involving client relations, diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, legal project management (“LPM”), and other business functions. She has significant experience launching offices in new markets, building successful practice management and LPM functions, implementing firm-wide policies, and leading the development and execution of wide-ranging growth strategies.
Prior to joining Blank Rome, Shonette served as the COO of Robins Kaplan LLP. She previously worked at Covington & Burling LLP where she served as its Managing Director of Administration, U.S. Offices & Dubai, United Arab Emirates; McDermott Will & Emery LLP, serving as its Director, Controversies Business Unit & Washington Area Operations; and O'Melveny & Myers LLP, in the role of Director of Practice Group Management.