Collie James, the new managing partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP in Costa Mesa, has some lessons he likes to impart to his colleagues, both the younger ones and the older ones.
“There is a central emotional core to our cases and our practice and the people that we deal with that we need to be respectful of,” he told the Business Journal last week.
He adds an additional point: “People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. They want to look for opportunities to help and guide and help make somebody else’s life better and easier.”
James, 48, took over the post on Oct. 1. The firm’s Plaza Tower office has 48 lawyers and 52 professional staff, and ranks as the 11th-largest office in the Philadelphia-based firm, out of 31 worldwide.
In OC, it is the 13th-largest law firm by attorney count.
Notable names at the firm’s Costa Mesa office include former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, OC congressman and Reagan White House staffer Chris Cox, as well as sports business-related rainmaker Jeff Moorad, former chief executive and general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks and co-owner and chief executive of the San Diego Padres.
James succeeds Ellen Bancroft, who took on the role in 2013 and more than doubled the size of the full-service law firm’s local office. A large part of that growth came from last year’s addition of an intellectual property group from McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Bancroft is still a partner in the OC office. The role was transitioned once she had held it for more than five years.
Learning to Fly
On a more practical level, James said of his new role: “I’m learning that a bit on the fly.”
He said that includes “making sure effectively that the lights stay on and people are getting the resources they need,” as well as watching the budget, dealing with staff and attorney issues, and keeping things running smoothly as they meet the overall goals of the firm.
He will also act as an advocate for the local office within the firm and within the Orange County business community.
“We’ve got a really excellent group of lawyers here,” said James, who has practiced law for almost 22 years. “Orange County as a whole is a major business center and should be respected as such. It’s a pleasure to be a part of the Orange County community.”
The new managing partner, officially Collie James IV, said he would “welcome any opportunities that came along to strengthen and expand what we already do.”
Family Lessons
James said the loss of his 5-year-old daughter to an inoperable brain tumor in 2011 helped shape his views.
“You don’t go through something like that without being changed and deeply affected,” he said. “In the wake of my daughter’s death, I really spent time thinking about what it meant and how I wanted to be better and different for the rest of my life.”
He is the co-founder and treasurer of the Maddie James Foundation, established to honor the memory of his daughter and which funded the building of a seaside learning center bearing her name at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.
“I saw great kindness and great effort during my daughter’s illness and afterwards,” he said. “I saw people do so much more than I would have ever imagined from them simply because they felt like they were a part of something.
“We have something to be really proud of here in our office as part of this firm, and to remind people that they can be part of something great by doing their work and supporting the people that surround them,” he said. “Then I think I’ve passed on something from the experience that I went through personally.”
Focus Areas
He counsels clients on complex business litigation matters, including mass tort, product liability, environmental litigation, unfair business practices claims, and consumer class actions.
In the toxic tort and product liability arenas, he’s been busy of late.
“We represent SoCal Gas and Sempra in the litigation growing out of the leak at one of its underground storage facilities a few years ago,” James said. “I am a prominent player in that litigation.”
He is part of the team representing Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in opioid-related litigation in California and throughout the country, and he maintains a strong local practice including beauty products company Arbonne International LLC of Irvine and “upstart” plus-sized clothing company Part & Parcel of San Francisco.
He said young lawyers have grown up with new forms of technology and “its impact on our practice can’t be ignored.”
When he entered practice, young lawyers “kept our mouths closed and just kept working, and it led a lot of unhealthy outcomes.”
Today’s young lawyers have “been much more vocal about how they want their professional life and their personal life to co-exist.” That includes a wellness program, assistance for lawyers returning from various types of leave, working from home and a focus on diversity.”
And what about the occasional news articles saying entry-level lawyers can’t write?
“I think the complaint about younger lawyers not being able to write has probably been around since Lincoln was grumbling about his associates in the 1840s and ’50s,” James responds with a laugh.
As for that unusual first name:
“It’s a family name. I am the fourth,” James said. “Legend has it that it was the nickname of my great-great-grandfather’s best friend who in honor of his best friend named his son Collie. Whether by pride or lack of imagination it just stuck.”
