Q&A: Mayer Brown’s new DC leader on future goals and market trends

(Reuters) – Elizabeth Espin Stern, head of Mayer Brown’s mobility and migration practice, took over the firm’s office of 200+ attorneys in Washington, DC this week as managing partner.

Stern succeeds Raj De, who has held the office since 2019 and was recently appointed to the Chicago-based company’s eight-member global management committee. De continues to lead Mayer Brown’s global cybersecurity and privacy practice and national security practice.

Stern brought her global mobility and immigration team of four attorneys from Baker McKenzie to Mayer Brown Global COVID-19 Response Team in 2014.

The DC-American native spoke to Reuters about her visions for the Washington office, how it has evolved over the years – including the pandemic – and about some of the trends that are shaping the region’s legal market.

The following conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

REUTERS: What are some of your goals for the DC office?

ESPIN STERN: We are in a workplace of the future. It’s new, it’s different, and we connect virtually and personally across all possible boundaries, including the boundaries of the screen. And in this environment, making sure these connections, workgroups, and people’s innovation labs are working effectively is critical. This is my top priority.

In a similar way, you can reach our great community. Industry, politics, science and healthcare all come together in the DC region. We want to be in dialogue with the titans of industry and law and regulation.

After all, I would really like us to use Mayer Brown’s strong and dynamic commitment to all of these goals by attracting additional lateral talents. We are excited about the success of our company and how much we have helped our platinum, silver and gold customers and we want to continue to grow in order to continue to offer this absolutely seamless service.

REUTERS: What additions would you like to make to the side?

ESPIN STERN: We are looking for lateral partners who are familiar with the nuances of regulation in large areas, including litigation – especially the appellate jurisdiction, which is a trademark of the firm – but also a cross-section of regulatory areas that are the subject of significant action by Biden -Administration. This includes antitrust, trade, my own immigration department, securities and stock exchange regulations and related broker-dealer and financial regulatory issues, as well as other tax and financial regulations in general.

REUTERS: How long has the law firm existed in DC and how has your practice changed over the years?

ESPIN STERN: This year we wanted to celebrate our 50th anniversary. But due to the pandemic, we will celebrate our 50th anniversary when we ceremoniously open our new (renovated) premises.

Fifty years ago there was no cybersecurity practice in the office. 50 years ago my practice, global mobility and migration did not exist. So there are new practices that have joined in as the world has changed. We have a very significant technology transaction practice out of this office. But the constant in the office is that we always have a mix of very experienced commercial practitioners who understand how the industry works, and then also experts who are high-level, former government officials who are capable of dealing with this commercial To manage knowledge by providing predictions and reliable indicators of where regulation and laws will affect business.

REUTERS: What trends do you pay particular attention to as a practice and office manager?

ESPIN STERN: We have had large companies that have moved into this area and are still moving in. It actually reminds me of when technology moved into this area in the 1990s – it’s happening again, but it’s all different businesses, whether it’s Nestlé headquartered here or Amazon plans to build in this region. DC is no longer just about government business, it’s about corporate diversity, it’s an industrial hub so we’ll be watching that.

The second trend that we are watching very closely is how the Biden government will fill the void created by the policy changes made by the previous government. These changes created a regulatory vacuum that needs to be filled. What that regulation will be, what kind of regulation it will be, to help our clients prepare for it before this regulation goes into effect, is something Mayer Brown’s Washington office, and frankly our law firm, excels at. And it’s business critical for our customers.

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