Jay Zimmerman has led the firm since 1994, guiding Bingham through a period of transformative growth that has placed it in the top echelon of the legal industry. In building Bingham’s global platform, Jay has adapted many traditional corporate value-creation and M&A strategies to law-firm management, combining risk management and strategic and financial discipline with a decisive approach to emerging opportunities. Harvard Law School examines Jay’s strategy and Bingham’s success in a recently published case study analyzing the firm’s steady growth and strategic accomplishments.

Under Jay’s leadership, Bingham has not only become an industry leader with 14 offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, but has also been ranked on FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list every year since 2005. Equally important, the firm has created and sustained a distinctive set of core values during this period of intense growth.

Jay joined legacy firm Bingham Dana & Gould in 1982, headed its London office for seven years and was elected managing partner in 1994. Recognizing that the needs of clients and the dynamics of the legal marketplace were changing, in 1997 he initiated a strategy to expand beyond the firm’s regional base and achieve a higher level of practice diversification. Execution of this strategy has resulted in a series of transactions that have transformed Bingham from a Boston-based regional firm to an international industry leader with offices worldwide. Each combination added specific, well-defined capabilities, strengthened the firm financially, and laid the groundwork for further expansion. During Jay’s tenure, Bingham has also been a leader in embracing the concept of multidisciplinary practices and has established a highly successful subsidiary business known as Bingham Consulting LLC, which addresses critical business, political and policy problems for global clients.