RIDGELAND, Miss., July 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Butler Snow is pleased to announce it has named experienced law firm executive and former U.S. Army officer L. Howard Belknap chief operating officer after an expansive national search.
Belknap was previously with Baker & McKenzie, a leading global law firm where he served as COO and executive director of the firm’s New York office. He has more than 30 years of executive leadership and management experience.
“Howard has been a leader for our country and a top-notch executive who has helped to lead some of the largest and most successful law firms in the world,” said Donald Clark Jr., chairman, Butler Snow. “We are thrilled to have him join the Butler Snow team and I look forward to working alongside Howard as we set the vision for our firm and implement our strategic plan.”
Belknap earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from West Point and went on to serve an honorable military career as an Army officer. He held key leadership positions, including strategic planner and speechwriter for former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army J. H. Binford Peay III, and Under Secretary of the Army Joe R. Reeder. He also commanded field artillery units in Hawaii and Korea.
After retiring from the Army, Belknap began his law firm career in 2002 as director of administration for the New York office of Shaw Pittman, a 400-attorney firm at the time, where he oversaw significant increases in profitability and multi-year business and marketing plans.
Before joining Baker & McKenzie in 2008, he was director of business development of Morgan Lewis. He drove a growth strategy for the firm’s business and finance practice group that grew to 450 attorneys representing 17 of the firm’s 22 offices worldwide.
During his tenure with Baker & McKenzie, Belknap helped set the vision and long-term New York growth strategy for the multi-billion dollar firm with more than 12,000 employees in 77 offices worldwide.
Belknap received a master’s in history and psychology from the University of Michigan and a master’s in national security studies from the U.S. Naval War College. He is also a graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership’s business leader program.
About Butler Snow
Butler Snow LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 320 attorneys representing local, regional, national and international clients from 19 U.S. offices and offices in London and Singapore. Ranked as one of America’s Top 100 law firms in the BTI Power Rankings, Butler Snow is recognized as one of the nation’s top law firms for client service. The firm was recently ranked 48th out of 650 firms in the BTI Client Relationship Scorecard for understanding our client’s business, anticipating client’s needs, unprompted communication, legal skills, quality and keeping clients informed. For more information, visit www.butlersnow.com or follow Butler Snow on Twitter @ButlerSnow.