New Rose blooms at Proskauer

Then came Will Lawes’ ascension to lord of the Freshfields manor. And now come tidings from across the pond that Proskauer Rose also has a new man in the hot seat.

Maybe, we hear you say, the election of Joseph Leccese as Proskauer’s new chairman at Proskauer shouldn’t merit the same kind of attention as has been lavished upon ’Red’ Ed or ’I fought the’ Lawes.

But remember, this is the same firm that is currently engaged in not-so-hush-hush but-oh-so-excruciatingly-prolonged merger talks with our very own SJ Berwin.

Meaning young Joseph (the first Proskauer chair to take the job before chalking up his half century) could soon be at the helm of a global top 30 superfirm (see story).

To quote the great Alec Baldwin: “Oh, have I got your attention now?”

With whom Leccese will be negotiating over those thorny profit pool issues is, of course, still unclear after Ralph Cohen stood down as SJB managing partner over the summer (see story). Rod Day, Hilton Mervis and Perry Yam are the names in the frame to replace Cohen.

With some scholars now tracing the start of SJ Berwin talks back to the pre-Mesozoic era we can only hope and pray that the two new bods are fully up to speed once they get their feet under their desks.