Should Business Managers Run Law Firms?

To what degree should business executives oversee operations at law firms as opposed to lawyers who do what they do best -- practice the law?

At the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman of Chicago, that question was addressed on Oct. 9 when it told Big Law Business it has no plans to scale back managerial oversight of its 600-lawyer firm with $550 million in revenue.

Instead, it is bringing on board Baker McKenzie’s longtime chief operating officer, Craig Courter, who will take the reins of the firm’s business operations, effective Oct. 16.

“The COO, in my way of viewing the ...