Litigators Who Lead Firm-Wide Practices Balance Subject Matter Mastery With 'the Soft Skills'
Ashley Taylor, co-leader of Troutman Pepper's State Attorneys General Practice Group, vice chair of the firm, and a partner in its Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) Practice Group, was quoted in the October 5, 2023 Law.com article, " Litigators Who Lead Firm-Wide Practices Balance Subject Matter Mastery With 'the Soft Skills'."
Ashley Taylor Jr., the co-leader of the state attorney general practice at Troutman Pepper, has also served as vice chair of the entire firm since January. Taylor, who is based in Richmond, Virginia, has been involved in firm leadership as a member of the executive and partner compensation committees at predecessor firm Troutman Sanders since shortly after making partner in 2003. He said he was surprised and moved by the response of minority attorneys to his appointment as vice chair, which he said had a "positive impact" on many throughout the firm.
Taylor also said that associate-level hiring should be the focus of any practice leader. "Smart associates provide the energy necessary to help propel a practice forward," he said. "As one of my mentors told me, nothing motivates you more to develop a practice than to have someone you want to see succeed at your door asking for work."
Taylor also passed along a piece of sage advice he received from Senior U.S. District Judge David Faber of the District of West Virginia. "He taught me to understand the decision-making process in the practice of law, that is to understand that you are advocating with the expectation that the decision on your case will be made when you are not in the room," Taylor said. "So your goal is to create an argument that will be discussed when you are not present."