With New DC Leadership, Mayer Brown Focuses on Financial Services Practice Growth

The firm's D.C. office, with about 188 lawyers now, is now being led by Andrew Olmem, co-leader of Mayer Brown's financial services, regulatory and enforcement practice.

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What You Need to Know

• Olmem succeeds Liz Espín Stern as managing partner of Mayer Brown's D.C. office, who had held the role since 2021.
• The firm's D.C. office is planning to continue to focus on its traditional strengths in financial services, including expanding its capabilities in insurance and private credit.
• The firm has also seen growth in its investigations and enforcement practices, according to Olmem.

Under new leadership in Washington, D.C., Mayer Brown said it plans to build up its strengths in its financial services practices, particularly in the areas of private credit and insurance.

Andrew Olmem, co-leader of the firm’s financial services, regulatory and enforcement practice, became managing partner of the firm’s D.C. office, the firm said this week. Olmem succeeded Liz Espín Stern, who held the role since 2021, effective June 1.

Olmem, who will oversee the strategic direction, growth, and client management in D.C., said in an interview that Mayer Brown is looking at growing its private credit, insurance and bank regulatory capabilities in D.C., as the firm builds on its strengths in the financial services sector.

“Going forward, a key focus will be building on our traditional strength in financial services by expanding our private credit and insurance and bank regulatory capabilities,” he said, adding the firm is “looking at hiring” in those practices due to increased demand. “Our investigation and enforcement practices have seen strong growth so we will be looking to add to those practices as well.”

Mayer Brown’s D.C. office, which had 188 full-time equivalent attorneys in D.C. last year, has a track record of bringing in its own clients, according to Olmem, rather than only working on other office’s client matters. Charles Schwab, Citi, Nestle, Lockheed, Spokeo, Palo Alto Networks, and Toyota are a few of the clients of the D.C. office.

“This office has always done a very good job of generating its own work, and it’s an office that has success on a standalone basis, and it brings in its own clients and work, but at the same time [the office is] highly integrated into the rest of Mayer Brown’s global team of lawyers,” he said.

As for the firm’s pricing strategy in D.C., Olmem said that the firm has seen an increase in clients seeking alternative fee arrangements.“Consistent with peer firms, Mayer Brown continues to align its billing rates with the U.S. market,” said Olmem. “We continue to see an increase in alternative fee arrangements as clients look for greater value from their law firms. Firms that can estimate and price effectively will remain the most financially successful.”

So far, 2024 has been off to a “very strong start” for the D.C. office, Olmem said, though did not provide specifics on the firm’s financials.
“It’s been very busy, the regulatory changes, from the [Securities and Exchange Commission] to the banking regulators to the [Federal Trade Commission], have kept this office particularly busy,” said Olmem.

Olmem added that the firm’s track record of bringing in talent from the federal government has been a cornerstone of its D.C. office, similar to that of other firms headquartered outside the city with D.C. outposts.

Olmem himself rejoined Mayer Brown in 2020, previously serving in the White House as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the National Economic Council.

Other recent additions at Mayer Brown’s D.C. office from the government include Kimberly Hamm, once chief counsel to former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Jay Clayton and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who joined the firm in January.

Other partner hires the firm has made in the past year and a half include John Sullivan, a former ambassador to Russia, in New York and Washington, D.C.; and Adam Hickey, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice’s national security division, in New York and D.C.

“We see a lot of interest in Washington right now, not only from domestic clients, but also international clients. The world really is watching this upcoming election and what it could potentially mean for policy in the United States,” said Olmem.

Reprinted with permission from the June 28 edition of The National Law Journal © 2024 ALM Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited.