Welcome to the first Original Jurisdiction podcast episode of the new year, an opportune time to both reflect on 2025 and look ahead to 2026. To kick things off, I decided I wanted to interview a Biglaw leader, to get a sense of both the challenges and opportunities facing large law firms today.

I was delighted to be joined by Jon Van Gorp, who has served as the chair of Mayer Brown since 2021. A member of both the Am Law 100 and the Vault 100, Mayer Brown has around 2,000 lawyers, $2 billion in revenue, and 150 years of history. As for Jon, he’s a Chambers-ranked, leading practitioner in structured finance—and we began our conversation by discussing his distinguished career in practice.

We then moved on to discuss his leadership of Mayer Brown, which Jon views as a way of giving back to an institution that has given so much to him. We covered his approach to leadership, the firm’s strategic plan, and its approach to AI adoption.

But Jon was also willing to tackle topics that other Biglaw leaders have been avoiding, such as partner pay and the (rather fraught) relationship between the Trump administration and large law firms. Thanks to Jon for his time, insight, and willingness to discuss delicate—but incredibly important—issues.

Show Notes:

* Jon D. Van Gorp bio, Mayer Brown LLP

* Beyond cold hard cash, warm fuzzies are the way to a lawyer’s heart, firm chair says, by Jenna Greene for Reuters

* Mayer Brown Chair On Why Law Leaders Need To Listen More, by Kevin Penton for Law360

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NexFirm helps Biglaw attorneys become founding partners. To learn more about how NexFirm can help you launch your firm, call 212-292-1000 or email [email protected].

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