Overview
CHICAGO (January 5, 2015) — McDermott Will & Emery announced today the appointment of John Yoshimura as Chief Operating Officer, effective January 1, 2015. In this role, Mr. Yoshimura will be responsible for overseeing the Firm’s business, financial and administrative operations in line with McDermott’s overall global strategy.
Mr. Yoshimura joins the Firm from A.T. Kearney, one of the world’s largest management consulting firms, where he has worked since 1987. Most recently, Mr. Yoshimura served as the company’s Global Chief Operating Officer and as a Member of its Board of Directors. His prior leadership roles include Managing Director for the Americas, Chief Human Resources Officer and Managing Director for South East Asia/India (based in Singapore), Managing Director for China (based in Shanghai) and Managing Director for Asia. Mr. Yoshimura was a key leader of the management buy-out of A.T. Kearney from its former corporate parent company, EDS.
“With this key hire, we consciously decided to go outside the legal industry,” said Peter J. Sacripanti. “John brings a fresh, strategic perspective from his distinguished career in professional services that will help us navigate the ‘new normal’ of today’s changing legal marketplace. His global experience, business strategy and corporate development skills will be invaluable to us as we look to capitalize on new opportunities to strengthen the McDermott brand.”
“John is a perfect fit for us right now as we accelerate our efforts to differentiate McDermott from the competition,” said McDermott co-chair Jeffrey E. Stone. “We are focused on delivering legal services in new ways that better fit the needs of our clients, and John will play a leading role in driving innovation both in the area of client service and in the management of the Firm.”
“This is the kind of innovative thinking that characterizes the firms that will be successful in the next decade,” said Peter Zeughauser of the Zeughauser Group and a frequent commentator on the legal industry. “Reaching out to experts from other industries is a powerful way to harness the innovations that are occurring outside of legal services, and this kind of hire is exactly what I would expect from Jeff Stone and Peter Sacripanti. As McDermott expands its reach into correlated areas such as health care consulting and e-discovery, this kind of thought leadership is critical.”
McDermott’s commitment to innovation has been evident over the past year as it moved to deliver a range of client solutions requiring new forms of business discipline for the Firm. In December, McDermott teamed up with its strategic alliance partner, MWE China Law Offices, to announce the launch of its new, Shanghai-based Data Center to provide sophisticated legal and technical discovery services to clients doing business in the region. The groundbreaking Data Center is be the first digital discovery platform in China to be designed, operated and staffed by lawyers fully licensed to operate there. As such, it responds directly to growing compliance demands by the Chinese government and the subsequent need among multinational companies for greater, more detailed regulatory, litigation and transaction data.
Similarly, McDermott’s new Corporate Services Center delivers a state-of-the-art document review platform to assist clients with data-intensive transactional matters. With this solution, clients involved in sophisticated corporate transactions gain new efficiencies through the superior quality, increased speed, and reduced costs that the Center can provide.
In April 2014, McDermott launched McDermott+Consulting (McDermottPlus), a separate and distinct, wholly-owned subsidiary to provide consulting services to the many diverse participants in the healthcare industry. McDermottPlus offers lobbying services, data analytics and modeling, and policy advice, all as a “one stop shop” for the convenience of clients.
Mr. Yoshimura will report directly to McDermott co-chairs Stone and Sacripanti. The heads of McDermott’s administrative departments, including finance, human resources, legal recruiting, marketing and business development, and information technology, will report to Mr. Yoshimura.
Mr. Yoshimura earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois, and his Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School.
About McDermott Will & Emery
McDermott Will & Emery is a premier international law firm with a diversified business practice. Numbering more than 1,100 lawyers, we have offices in Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Milan, Munich, New York, Orange County, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. Further extending our reach into Asia, we have a strategic alliance with MWE China Law Offices in Shanghai.
