Johnson steps into Quarles leadership with ears open

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Kimberly Leach Johnson never aspired to lead one of Wisconsin’s largest law firms, but it’s a role she willingly took on Oct. 1.

Johnson is the first woman to serve as chair of 120-year-old Quarles & Brady LLP.

“It wasn’t on my bucket list to be chair,” she said. “I ran for the elected executive committee a few years ago because I wanted to learn more about the underbelly of the firm and how it worked.

“I then volunteered for the finance committee and thought it would end there, but here I am.”

She is chair of the firm’s finance committee, a managing partner of the firm’s offices in Naples and Tampa, Fla., and serves on the firm’s elected executive committee.

Despite the new responsibilities, Johnson retains her practice in trusts and estates.

“I have a great team helping me,” she said.

As chair of the firm, which has eight offices in four states and Washington, D.C., plus an office in China, Johnson sets the firm’s strategy and serves as its public face.

“I do a lot of traveling,” she said, “going out and meeting clients and meeting lawyers at our different offices and communicating our plan.”

That plan calls for more growth – looking at new areas of law as well as geographic growth. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Quarles & Brady has 445 attorneys on staff.

Those growth areas will help, she said, as the firm is grappling with the fact that the need for legal services has dropped as duties once done only by attorneys are now being done by other professionals.

“A lot of low-hanging fruit that we as attorneys have done is gone,” Johnson said, “so we need to look at other areas that we can possibly move into.”

Johnson said she doesn’t focus on being one of the few women to run a national law firm – the American Bar Association estimates that women run only 4 percent of all firms – but rather just on what it takes to be a good leader, which for her means good communication and listening to what the firm’s attorneys want.

Johnson said her work in estate and trust law prepared her for the new role since both require strong listening and communication skills.

“You need to listen what the partners are saying, what employees are saying and what the clients are saying,” she said. “Good communication is essential. That’s something I’ve learned in my practice and will serve me well in my new role.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: What advice would you give to law school students or those attorneys just starting their careers?
Kimberly Leach Johnson: Be responsive to the clients’ requests and treat them like you would like to be treated.

WLJ: What would you have done if you hadn’t become an attorney?
Johnson: Marine biologist

WLJ: If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Johnson: The power to fly. Then I wouldn’t be waiting in airports.

WLJ: What is the one app you can’t live without?
Johnson: My Delta app as I travel so much.

WLJ: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Johnson: Switzerland

WLJ: Is there a word or phrase that you tend to overuse?
Johnson: Yes, dear (only to my husband).

WLJ: What was the first concert you attended?
Johnson: My favorite was Bon Jovi. I can’t remember the first.

WLJ: What was your favorite toy as a child?
Johnson: An Etch-a-Sketch

WLJ: What is your favorite thing to do in Wisconsin?
Johnson: Visiting the Milwaukee Art Museum.