Paul Marino, Office Managing Partner – New Jersey, Day Pitney
The fast development of AI is top of mind for the legal sector as the industry evaluates the best ways of leveraging this ever-evolving technology. In an interview with Invest:, Paul Marino, New Jersey office managing partner at Day Pitney, highlighted the firm’s post-COVID growth and the implications of using AI in the legal sector. “We need to stay on top of AI and its growth and make sure that we remain on the cutting edge, but in a thoughtful and careful way. We need to make sure that we are using AI in a way that makes us better lawyers because clients will expect us to do this,” Marino said.
What key milestones and changes have had the most impact on the firm and in what ways?
The past year has been good for the firm. We have been planning our New Jersey office’s move from our current location to a new location, which is also located in Parsippany. This is a strategic move to a space that will provide us with better space for collaboration. We have done this across all of our offices up and down the East Coast. The collaboration and conference spaces will be better, and the office will also have improved amenities. The real work has been in designing a space that will help people be productive and collaborative while they are in the office. Since COVID, we’ve been faced with the challenge of no longer being in the office every day, and despite now having a hybrid work environment, we are getting to a point where people want to be back in the office, which, of course, has many benefits.
How is employment and compliance changing in the hybrid work environment?
Clients are dealing with the same types of issues that we are dealing with. They have to evaluate how to provide the best services to their clients and customers and how to make their workplace conducive to that. As a law firm, we went to a hybrid model more than three years ago, with three days a week in the office. It has evolved, but what has helped is having established certain days when attorneys and staff need to be in the office, known as “collaboration days”. People know that on the days they come into the office, the place will be alive and vibrant, and that there is a significant benefit to being in the office on those days.
What is the state of the legal sector in the region?
The industry as a whole, and we as a firm, have been doing well in the past several years. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen continued growth in revenue and a corresponding growth in the number of attorneys at the firm. As an industry, one of the significant issues we face is AI. This is not unique to our industry; however, we are evaluating how to deal with AI and use it in a way that will be productive for our clients and, from our perspective, how to advise clients on their use of AI. We have a committee that looks at how we, as a firm, can utilize AI technology to help us provide services to clients more efficiently. Also, we have a dedicated group of attorneys who advise our clients on how they can utilize AI and the laws that impact the ways that AI can be used. There are all kinds of privacy considerations, as well as the fundamental need to ensure that all data gathered by AI is accurate. There are horror stories about attorneys (fortunately not from our firm) citing cases in court or including them in filings, and they later learn that the cases do not actually exist – the cases are AI mirages.
What is the firm’s approach to talent management and acquisition?
Regarding talent acquisition, we are looking to grow in two primary ways: (i) from laterals—recruiting attorneys from other law firms or attorneys who have been practicing in-house and (ii) through law school recruiting. The lateral acquisitions are strategically focused on specific needs and opportunities for growth. We have strategic growth committees that look at opportunities for that. Oftentimes, this is based on relationships more than anything. We take less of a risk if we bring on people with whom we already have relationships. To the extent that we can use relationships to grow strategically through lateral acquisitions, we want to be able to do this. We also look to grow from our recruiting program through law schools. Our summer program allows us to take a cohort of bright law school students who get to see what it is like to be a Day Pitney lawyer, and it gives them opportunities to do legal work. The hope is that at the end of the summer, we can extend offers to them and grow our ranks that way. We have been successful with this approach for a long time, and we will continue this for years to come.
What are your top priorities for the near term?
It is incumbent upon us to provide thought leadership and serve the state’s largest companies, middle market companies, and individuals as well — we have a private client practice for high-net-worth individuals to help them with their trust, estate, and tax planning, and with litigation that arises in that context.
Additionally, we need to stay on top of AI and its growth and make sure that we remain on the cutting edge, but in a thoughtful and careful way. We need to make sure that we are using AI in a way that makes us better lawyers because clients will expect us to do this. We need to stay at the forefront of this technology. It is also critical for us as a firm to continue to foster an environment of collaboration. Clients come to us because they know they will get the benefit of having many smart people in one place, but the only way to access that benefit is if we, as a firm, are collaborating. We need to provide our attorneys with the best possible space to collaborate and encourage our attorneys to work together as much as possible.
As part of that, we are supporting attorney development through strategic organizational and developmental learning initiatives focused on growth, leadership, and knowledge sharing. From mentoring to targeted training and new tools, we’re investing in our people as the foundation of our success.
Ultimately, our priorities center on strengthening the core—deepening client relationships, growing talent, leveraging technology responsibly, and fostering a culture of excellence and collaboration across the firm.
