How I Made Partner: Locke Lord's Kyle Davis
"Figuring out what you do best and how your contribution to your firm is significant and unique is more important than trying to squeeze into a mold that doesn’t fit."
August 08, 2019 at 10:49 AM
4 minute read
Practice area: Real estate and finance.
Law school: Wake Forest University School of Law, 2010.
How long have you been at the firm? Nine years.
How long were you an associate at the firm? Eight years.
Were you an associate at another firm before joining your present firm? No.
What year did you make partner at your current firm? Elected 2018; effective Jan. 1, 2019.
What’s the biggest surprise you experienced in becoming partner? Not so much a surprise, but it has been fascinating learning more about law firm economics. As an associate, you aren’t privy to much information about the business side of the firm, but as a partner, you have much more access to the ins and outs of the firm, which I find interesting.
What do you think was the deciding point for the firm in making you partner? I suspect one deciding point was the relationships that I had with existing firm clients. I have worked with many of them since very early in my career here. Clients like consistency in their transactions, and I believe my long-standing relationships with clients were viewed as an asset to the firm.
Describe how you feel now about your career now that you’ve made partner. Content. While making partner has been a career goal of mine since starting law school, I have no intention of slowing down. Now that I have achieved partnership, I am excited to set new goals and take on new challenges. Within the firm, I intend to work closely with my colleagues, partners and associates to make Locke Lord an even better place to practice for the young associates who come up through the ranks after me.
What’s the key to successful business development in your opinion? For me, it is doing great work for your clients. Networking and making new client connections is valuable, but once you get them in the door you have to do top-notch work to keep them. Same with existing clients, you have to be available, responsive, efficient and perform high-quality work so that the next time they have a legal issue they call you again.
What’s been the biggest change, day-to-day, in your routine since becoming partner? My workload has pretty much stayed the same, but as a partner there are more administrative and nonbillable tasks that, at times, take up a significant amount time during the day.
Who had the greatest influence in your career that helped propel you to partner? I’ve learned so much from all of the partners in the real estate and finance group here in the Dallas office of Locke Lord and credit them all with helping me succeed and advance to partnership, but if I have to pick just one, it would be Robb Stewart. He is a partner in our real estate and finance group in Dallas as well. I started working with him as a first-year associate and still work with him now. As a supervising attorney, he was never too busy to answer my questions, but he wouldn’t just answer them so I could finish the project for him, he really took the time to teach me the rationale and intent behind why we do the things we do the way we do them. From the beginning, he always made me feel like we were collaborating and that I was working with him, not for him, which in turn made me much more invested in our transactions.
What’s the best piece of advice you could give an associate who wants to make partner? Take the time to learn your strengths as an attorney (and for business development purposes) and play to those strengths. There is no one way to be successful in this career and figuring out what you do best and how your contribution to your firm is significant and unique is more important than trying to squeeze into a mold that doesn’t fit.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllHow I Made Public Office: 'Embrace Action Over Excessive Planning,' Says Jennifer Sellitti of the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender
How I Made Partner: 'Become Invaluable to Client Teams,' Says Michael Schapiro of Stradley Ronon
A Conversation with NLJ Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Jeh Johnson
A Conversation with NLJ Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Jeh Johnson
Trending Stories
- 1Wilson Sonsini Knocks Out Claims Against Inhibrx Biosciences in Trade Secrets Verdict
- 2Pass Rate on California's July 2024 Bar Exam Ticks Up to 53.8%
- 3High Court Asked To Review DOJ's 'Illusory Promise,' Religious Charter School, Meta Class Action
- 4'Rampant Piracy': US Record Labels File Copyright Suit Against French Distributor Believe
- 5$5.5M Miami Verdict: Meet the Lawyers Behind the Slip-and-Fall Suit
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250