Akerman Chairman and CEO Andrew Smulian will hand over the reins to managing partner Scott Meyers next February, drawing a close to his nine years as head of the Am Law 100 firm and a leadership misstep.

Meyers joined Akerman from Ulmer & Berne in 2014 and was tasked with building its nascent Chicago location as the office’s managing partner. The outpost rapidly grew from 8 to 55 attorneys. In 2018, Meyers was promoted to firm-wide managing partner and has worked closely with Smulian in recent months.