This Biglaw Firm Is Restructuring Its Top Leadership Role After Nearly 20 Years - Above the Law

"For nearly two decades, leadership at Lowenstein Sandler has been a two-for-one deal. Since 2008, Gary Wingens has served as both chairman and managing partner - a rare stretch of dual power in Biglaw. That changes today. The firm has elected Jonathan Wishnia as its first new managing partner in 18 years, while Wingens remains chairman. It's a significant structural shift for a firm that has grown dramatically under a unified leadership model, nearly tripling revenue during Wingens's tenure and reshaping its practice around sector-focused growth."

"This isn't a firm in distress. It's a firm planning ahead. As Wingens put it in an interview with the American Lawyer, "We are in a profession that is changing faster than it ever has before. The changes are dramatic, the winners and losers are pretty dramatic." The decision grew out of a strategic planning process, with leadership concluding that splitting the roles would "provide more bandwidth for leadership and management of the firm.""

"By splitting the roles, Lowenstein joins the many Am Law firms that separate strategy from day-to-day management. Wingens will turn outward - focusing on clients, long-term vision, and institutional knowledge - while Wishnia takes over operations and builds out a new management committee to spread leadership responsibility. As Wishnia noted about the transition, "The goal of the management committee is to create leadership bandwidth.""

Lowenstein Sandler separated the chairman and managing partner roles after 18 years of a combined leadership model. Jonathan Wishnia becomes managing partner, taking responsibility for day-to-day operations and creating a management committee to expand leadership bandwidth. Gary Wingens remains chairman and will focus on clients, long-term vision, and institutional knowledge while transitioning his knowledge and institutional memory. The change followed a strategic planning process and is framed as proactive succession planning rather than a response to distress. The firm tripled revenue under the prior unified model and reshaped practices around sector-focused growth.

Read at Above the Law