Uli Kleinsteuber, who became Goodwin Procter’s first ever managing director of international operations when he joined the firm last month from Linklaters, didn’t plan on a career in law. Michael Caplan, who spent most of his career in legal operations from the client side, had never worked for a law firm until joining Goodwin four years ago as chief operations officer.

Now, as Goodwin works to expand its footprint across Europe and the world, the pair are applying experience garnered from the Magic Circle, from elsewhere in the professional services realm and from time in the clients’ seat to streamline and organize the 800-plus lawyer firm’s global operations.