Dinsmore Makes Strong Growth Push in Chicago to Meet Client Needs During COVID-19 Pandemic

Going on nearly two years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, businesses are constantly adjusting to evolving challenges, and Dinsmore & Shohl LLP is serving those business clients accordingly. In kind, the firm’s Chicago office has put its growth into overdrive since March of 2020.

“Notwithstanding the myriad challenges of the pandemic, most sectors of the legal market have continued to thrive during the past two years,” said Dinsmore Chicago Office Managing Partner Bobby Lucas. “This required us to continue to grow our talented team and to meet the continued demand for legal services from our clients.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Dinsmore has added 25 total employees in its Chicago office, including 12 attorneys and 13 support staff. In 2021 alone, the local office added eight attorneys and eight staff members.

The attorneys represent an excellent cross-section of Dinsmore’s full-service offering, including five commercial litigators, four transactional attorneys, and one each in labor and employment, intellectual property and commercial finance – all areas of significant client need during the tumult of the pandemic.

“While many areas of practice have been robust during the pandemic, none more so than the transactional practice,” Lucas said. “Each of M&A, commercial finance and employee benefits practices have been extremely busy during the past two years and required significant hiring to meet demand.”

The growth has not just been strategic in terms of client demand, but also in accordance with Dinsmore’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Among the 25 new hires, 43% are racially diverse and 60% are women – both groups underrepresented in the legal industry.

“I’m especially proud that we have responded to the demands of our clients and the legal market while furthering our commitment to diversity,” Lucas said. “Adding talented, diverse attorneys does not happen by accident and is the result of a continued focus on intentional recruitment and hiring.”

          

And just two weeks ago, Chicago attorneys Krysta Gumbiner (commercial litigation) and Sean Price (intellectual property) were elected to the firm’s partnership after serving five and three years, respectively, as associates with the firm.

“I’m excited that these impressive attorneys have become partners at Dinsmore, and I’m anxious to see how the rest of their careers unfold,” said Dinsmore Chairman and Managing Partner George Vincent.

Chicago labor partner Johner T. Wilson III also joined Dinsmore’s board of directors on Jan. 1 of this year.

The onset of the pandemic came just a handful of months after Dinsmore moved into its new Chicago office in late 2019, a move spurred by the firm’s outgrowth of its former space. The office first opened in 2014 with just five attorneys and has since grown to 34 with no plans of slowing.

“We have a talented team of diverse attorneys with varied skill sets in Chicago, and a great culture from which to continue to build and grow,” Lucas said. “While we will continue to be aggressive in bringing in talent in a number of practice areas, I anticipate transactional, intellectual property and labor and employment attorneys to be a particular focus.”