Sonnenschein names youngest ever chairman

Chicago-based firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal has elected Elliott Portnoy as the firm’s next chairman, succeeding incumbent Duane Quaini in 2007 when his term expires.

Washington DC-based Portnoy, 40, will become the youngest and first partner outside the firm’s Chicago headquarters to serve as chairman. Quaini, 61, has been chairman since 1997.

Portnoy is a member of the policy and planning committee and serves on its strategic planning steering committee.

He joined Sonnenschein in 2002 from Washington DC firm Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn as the founding chair of the firm’s public law and policy strategies group.

Since 2000, Sonnenschein has doubled in size to 700 lawyers and gross revenues of $448m in 2005.