The Business Side Of Law: Amaryah Bocchino Of MG+M The Law Firm On 5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm

An Interview With Eric Pines

Surround yourself with a diverse, strong team of people, many of whom are smarter than yourself.

Law school primarily prepares lawyers for the practice of law. But leading or starting a law firm requires so much more than that. It requires the entrepreneurial skills that any CEO would need to run a business; How to manage personnel, how to hire and fire, how to generate leads, how to advertise, how to manage finances, etc. On the business side of law, what does an attorney need to know to create a successful and thriving law practice? To address these questions, we are talking to successful law firm principals who can share stories and insights from their experience about the “5 Things You Need To Create Or Lead A Successful Law Firm”.

As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Amaryah K. Bocchino.

Amaryah K. Bocchino has served as MG+M The Law Firm’s (Manning Gross + Massenburg LLP) managing partner since January 2017, providing effective leadership that ensures the firm’s national and local clients receive optimal, efficient and coordinated legal services. A member of the firm’s Executive Committee and its chief diversity officer, Amaryah founded the firm’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion + Belonging (DEIB) Partner Committee, its DEIB Roundtable, its Pro Bono Committee, and the National Women’s Forum, which she also co-chairs. An experienced civil litigator, Amaryah maintains an extensive practice focusing on products and premises liability, toxic tort litigation and business and commercial disputes.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you ended up where you are? Specifically we’d love to hear the story of how you began to lead your practice.

As a young attorney, and at all stages of my career, I have been fortunate to have great mentors, partners in charge and clients who saw that I was hardworking, independent and assertive and, as a result, gave me opportunities to lead. I started my career as a young corporate litigator at a prominent Wilmington, Delaware, firm. While I loved my experience at that firm, as a third-year, I was given the opportunity by John Manning, who was the chairperson for what was then a small Boston commercial litigation boutique firm, to take a risk and open a Delaware office (with my now partner Jason Cincilla). I was the primary resident attorney when we opened the office. As such, I had no choice but to be involved in management at an early age. There were many days when I thought it might be easier to return to my old firm and shed these additional responsibilities. I decided, however, that since John and Jason took a risk on me, I needed to work as hard at figuring out this aspect of the business as I did at figuring out how to solve our clients’ legal problems. So, at a young age, I immersed myself in learning the business side of law. I helped grow the Delaware office and assisted in recruiting and opening other offices nationally. I became fully invested in seeing the firm succeed. John saw how motivated I was to make MG+M succeed and encouraged me to take on the position of managing partner.

I’m a huge fan of mentorship throughout one’s career. None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Who has been your biggest mentor? What was the most valuable lesson you learned from them?

I am a firm believer in the value of multiple mentors — we learn by exposing ourselves to diverse perspectives. I’ve been fortunate to have many who have provided me with a wide variety of perspectives. In addition to John Manning, who has mentored me in how to manage, three individuals have had a substantial impact on me.

One was the late great Sara Turnipseed, one of my role models and a leader at Nelson Mullins in Atlanta. When I was a young partner and in my new leadership role at my firm, Sara taught me two lessons I have never forgotten. First, no matter where you are in your station in your career, take the time to speak to and listen to others. Don’t have a hierarchal viewpoint when you are a leader. Second, don’t lose sight of family life in favor of a career. Children and family should always come first. You can succeed at both family and work.

My second mentor is Jason Cincilla, the MG+M partner who recruited me when I was a young associate and who has advocated for me during my entire career. One lesson I have learned from him is to remain open-minded. To do so, it is important to allow others into your career, even if they are not on the same page or have different ideals. Listening to contrary views will make you better at your career and as a leader.

My third mentor is Max Swetman, another MG+M partner, who has taught me to be persistent in order to achieve change and that everyone needs people in their lives who can guide and advise. To be successful, you cannot plateau. You cannot stop working hard or stop learning, and you should surround yourself with people who will teach you and continue to learn with you.

From completing your degree to opening a practice and becoming a business owner, your path was most likely challenging. Can you share a story about one of your greatest struggles? Can you share what you did to overcome it?

One of the biggest challenges I faced in my career happened during a transition of a new client to our firm. The law firm previously representing the client, consisting of a team of mostly men, had a hard time transitioning the client to me as a woman who would be a team leader. One attorney in particular at the prior firm repeatedly tried to make the transition as difficult as possible by not communicating with me and by suggesting that he deal only with the men at my firm. While this was certainly difficult, I found the most effective way to confront those efforts was to rise above them and consistently deliver high-quality legal services. The experience also propelled me to focus on my DEIB initiatives with even greater intensity. As a result, both my firm and I have a strong relationship with the client.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share a story about how that was relevant in your own life?

Interestingly, I’ve just had to relearn a life lesson from my 9-year-old daughter that I gave her years ago: to get back up when she falls down. Like many of us, I was feeling particularly bad after SCOTUS’ reversal of Roe v. Wade, when she read me a story she wrote about me when she was 6 in which I taught her to get back up. I’m choosing to take that advice and instead of simply focusing on the negative I am creating ways in which I can improve the rights and care available to women both locally and nationally.

This is not easy work. What is your primary motivation and drive behind the work that you do?

The work I do allows me to give back in so many other ways. In addition to serving as the firm’s managing partner and a member of the Executive Committee, I serve as chief diversity officer, and on all of these levels, I can influence and make change. That is incredibly meaningful to me, my clients, everyone at the firm and, of course, my family.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I am most excited about my work on the firm’s diversity initiatives and my role as the chief diversity officer. I enjoy the opportunity to chair several DEIB committees and speak to clients about how to initiate diversity programs and to hire firms and vendors that promote diversity. As a firm, we are committed to fostering a culture that honors, celebrates and promotes our diversities. We embrace the ideals, perspectives and identities that make all of us unique. We actively recruit diverse professionals, and we have implemented several initiatives to support and encourage our DEIB objectives. Last year, we published our first annual DEIB Annual Report, which helped keep us accountable and meet our goals. We are finalizing our second annual report now, and I am very excited to present it to our clients.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to discussing the business of law. Can you tell us a bit about the nature of your practice and what you focus on?

I am a civil litigator in the firm’s Complex Litigation Practice, and I represent national and regional clients in all aspects of litigation management. My practice focuses on products and premises liability, toxic tort litigation, and business and commercial disputes. I am also what I call an outsourced in-house counsel. I oversee national teams from a litigation perspective, and I am always looking for innovative ways to minimize a client’s litigation profile.

You are a successful attorney. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success?

1. Perceptiveness — I have to understand how people operate in order to help them do their best to accomplish our collective client goals.
2. Self-awareness — I always try to know what I don’t know and recognize my flaws. No one is perfect, and I value having people around me who do not always agree with me or approach things the same way I do, and I do my best to accept those individuals’ candid feedback.
3. Empathy — I value the differences that others offer and believe that diversity of thought is important and necessary to make the team stronger. I want others to bring me different ideas, and I do my best to listen to and understand those ideas. I always try to allow for trust and autonomy.

What unique qualities do you have that others may not? Can you please share a story or example for each?

I do not necessarily view this as a unique quality, but it is something that I think is a constant characteristic of mine — in everything I do that is important to the firm and the client (or me personally), I see it through. Not just to completion but to its best possible completion. And while I work hard to complete the tasks in front of me, I work just as hard at being respectful to my colleagues during the process. I believe self-awareness is exceptionally important in the workplace, and I push myself to be aware of my own actions and how they impact others in everything I do.

Do you think where you went to school has any bearing on your success? How important is it for a lawyer to go to a top-tier school?

Where I went to school does have a bearing on my success because it was the right choice for me personally at that time in my life. My experience in law school helped me gain confidence, and I gained a close-knit group of strong female friends who I still rely on today for advice and support. I think it is important for individuals to make the right choice for themselves. And for that reason, my firm does not judge a candidate solely by where they went to school or recruit only at top-tier schools. There are many capable and intelligent lawyers who did not have the same opportunities as others to get into a top-tier school. There are individuals who have to work while attending law school. If you only search one type of school, you will only get one type of lawyer and perspective at your firm, and that is counter to our diversity goals. In my opinion, it’s more important to find ways to help with paying for law school and to create a pipeline for young, diverse individuals to become talented lawyers. It will only further improve diversity within the legal profession.

Managing being a law practitioner and a business owner is a constant balancing act. How do you manage both roles?

I have learned to integrate as much as possible. I give equal attention to both sides, as one makes the other better. I firmly believe that before you can manage anyone, you need to know all the tasks they have to do. I won’t let an associate manage a paralegal unless they know how to do everything being asked of the paralegal. I don’t want to get away from the fundamentals of practicing law, so it’s important to me to balance both.

Can you help articulate the entrepreneurial skills a lawyer needs to run and lead a successful law firm?

Learn to be a business owner, not just a lawyer. I try to always know what I don’t know. And when I don’t know something, I surround myself with those who do and learn from them. Law firms often fail when they put people in place who are not self-aware and who do not have a business or financial background. My goal — which I learned from my mentor John Manning — is to put strong, smart members on your team and then trust them. He identified me as a young attorney to be a leader in our firm and then mentored and trusted me.

As a business owner you spend most of your time working IN your practice, seeing clients. When and how do you shift to working ON your practice? (Marketing, upgrading systems, growing your practice, etc.) How much time do you spend on the business elements?

I actually don’t differentiate between the two when it comes to my work. If you are a good lawyer, you will naturally grow your practice. As a good leader, you will get the business if you work hard and are good to others. I strive to create good relationships, which in turn is how I develop business. This is how I have gotten to where I am, and I believe the two go hand in hand without separation.

Can you share some specific, non-intuitive insights from our personal experience about how a leader of a law firm should:

• Manage personnel: Try to remember how it is to not be in a leadership position, to understand others.
• Hire and fire: Hire well, fire fast. If you know someone won’t succeed, don’t dwell on firing them. As a leader, you have to give individuals opportunities but also know when to end the relationship. And you will prevent yourself from promoting the individuals who deserve recognition if you focus on those who do not.
• Generate leads: Build authentic relationships, organically and naturally, by being caring.
• Advertise: Keep the brand genuine.
• Manage finances: Put good people around you who can manage the numbers, but then learn from them and challenge them.

Ok, thank you. Here is the main question of our interview about the business side of law. What are your 5 Things An Attorney Needs To Know In Order To Lead A Successful Law Firm.

1. Surround yourself with a diverse, strong team of people, many of whom are smarter than yourself.

I am fortunate to co-lead a national litigation team. When I joined, I realized the team lacked diversity. I therefore made it a mission to create a virtual law firm and recruit diverse lawyers who would be more representative of the juries they are in front of. I am sitting in a war room presently where we have a team of lawyers working together from at least five different law firms coming from at least as many geographic areas across the nation. We have attorneys who have been out of law school a year and attorneys who have been out of law school 30 years working on the case. We elicit ideas from everyone and regularly check in with the very smart, young non-lawyer paralegals and A/V technicians to get their perspectives as to how the story came across or will come across to the jury.

2. Communicate often and well.

Communication is one of the skills we as lawyers need to strive every day to perfect. As a manager and a business owner, it is just as important. In my role as chief diversity officer, I realized that we were making many changes in the firm but that many individuals within and outside our firm, including clients, were not aware of what we were doing to improve the firm culture and promote diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. To remedy the situation, I worked with our firm DEIB Partner Committee and the director of diversity to create quarterly firm updates on our efforts and to publish an annual report, which goes even further than communicating our efforts by also keeping us accountable.

3. Be direct and forceful when needed.

It is important to have a strong team — whether a litigation team or a firm management team. If there are individuals on the team who do not perform and create consistent negative energy, it is very simple: They should not remain on the team. Once, on the eve of trial, I made a difficult decision to switch out the trial counsel, who was not performing. I had to have a very direct conversation with the attorney and the team as to why and explain to the client the reasoning in obtaining their approval. It was not a popular decision with everyone on the team, but it was quickly apparent that it was the right decision. The dynamics of the team quickly changed for the better, and we obtained a very favorable result for the client.

4. Do not be afraid of candid and honest feedback.

After every trial, if permitted, we attempt to elicit feedback from the jurors as to what they liked and did not like. It helps us grow as attorneys and in our trial strategy, even if the feedback is not positive. There are other areas of the practice where it is not as easy to obtain feedback as a leader unless you are proactive in doing so. I therefore seek opportunities to do so — for example, in performance reviews. I always ask attorneys I am reviewing to give feedback as to how we are teaching and leading them. As the managing partner, I worked with our director of diversity to create an anonymous suggestion box for all firm employees. Diversity of thought is MG+M’s greatest strength, and we welcome and encourage suggestions, comments and feedback that will make the firm better in all areas.

5. Take risks with the understanding that sometimes you will fail.

When my girls were young and asked me what I did for my job, I told them that I solved problems. That is most frequently what we as lawyers are asked to do. In order to creatively solve difficult problems, we have to take risks. The same is true in running a law firm. I am not a natural risk taker, but this is something that I have learned from multiple mentors. To be profitable, you have to take chances on clients and people. There are multiple examples of times when we attempted to expand our firm by recruiting individuals and it did not work out. However, there have been more times when it has worked out, and very much to our benefit. It is how we’ve grown from a small boutique Boston firm to a national litigation law firm. It’s what has allowed me to have the incredible opportunities I’ve had in my career. If John Manning had not taken the risk to recruit me into the firm as a young attorney and give me incredible responsibility at an early age, I would not be where I am today.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

My personal movement is always to inspire awareness of diversity of thought. Cultivating it, recruiting for it and supporting it. That I can do this while maintaining a law practice inspires me, and in turn I hope inspires others.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

MG+M The Law Firm (Manning Gross + Massenburg LLP) can be found at https://www.mgmlaw.com/.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

About the Interviewer: Eric L. Pines is a nationally recognized federal employment lawyer, mediator, and attorney business coach. He represents federal employees and acts as in-house counsel for over fifty thousand federal employees through his work as a federal employee labor union representative. A formal federal employee himself, Mr. Pines began his federal employment law career as in-house counsel for AFGE Local 1923 which is in Social Security Administration’s headquarters and is the largest federal union local in the world. He presently serves as AFGE 1923’s Chief Counsel as well as in-house counsel for all FEMA bargaining unit employees and numerous Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs unions.

While he and his firm specialize in representing federal employees from all federal agencies and in reference to virtually all federal employee matters, his firm has placed special attention on representing Veteran Affairs doctors and nurses hired under the authority of Title. He and his firm have a particular passion in representing disabled federal employees with their requests for medical and religious reasonable accommodations when those accommodations are warranted under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (ADA). He also represents them with their requests for Federal Employee Disability Retirement (OPM) when an accommodation would not be possible.

Mr. Pines has also served as a mediator for numerous federal agencies including serving a year as the Library of Congress’ in-house EEO Mediator. He has also served as an expert witness in federal court for federal employee matters. He has also worked as an EEO technical writer drafting hundreds of Final Agency Decisions for the federal sector.

Mr. Pines’ firm is headquartered in Houston, Texas and has offices in Baltimore, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. His first passion is his wife and five children. He plays classical and rock guitar and enjoys playing ice hockey, running, and biking. Please visit his websites at www.pinesfederal.com and www.toughinjurylawyers.com. He can also be reached at eric@pinesfederal.com.