Morgan Lewis Established New Leadership Team Structure
The law firm appointed four executives to support the chair and improve strategic accountability.
Updated on Oct. 1, 2026 in People
Global law firm Morgan Lewis has appointed a four-person leadership team to support chair David McManus, who recently began a five-year term. The new structure assigns specific oversight roles to senior partners to drive execution across the firm's growth and operations.
Why it matters
The firm implemented this structure to create clearer accountability across key functional areas and build capacity for executing long-term strategic goals. This move signals a shift toward centralized management as the firm enters a new five-year leadership cycle.
Morgan Lewis established a four-person leadership team to support the chair during his five-year term. The team works alongside the chief operating officer, a role held by Tony Licata since 2014.
The players
Morgan Lewis
A global law firm providing legal services to corporate clients across various industries.
David McManus
The current firm chair who recently began a five-year leadership term.
Tony Licata
The firm's chief operating officer who has managed business operations since 2014.
The details
The firm assigned specific oversight responsibilities to the four-person team to ensure alignment between partner performance and strategic priorities. Christina Melendi oversees firm-wide growth strategy, Bart Bassett leads legal talent development, and Steven Reed manages partner performance alignment. This layer of oversight is designed to provide dedicated capacity for firm-wide initiatives while operations continue under existing management structures.
Timeline
• October 1, 2026: Morgan Lewis announced the new leadership team.
• 2014: Tony Licata began managing business operations as chief operating officer.
Market Landscape
This leadership adjustment follows the established pattern of professional service firms realigning management structures at the outset of new executive terms. The shift reflects a growing trend in large law firms to professionalize administrative oversight through dedicated, functional leadership teams.
Operators should monitor whether this model of functional, non-operational oversight leads to faster decision-making or increased administrative requirements for partners. Firms undergoing similar scaling should evaluate if their current management can support multi-year strategic priorities.
The takeaway
Centralizing strategic oversight can prevent bottlenecking during executive transitions, provided the new leaders have clear authority over resource allocation. Watch how the team balances growth targets with existing talent development efforts over the next twelve months.
Further reading
For more on talent and management developments, visit People.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Bloomberglaw.
