K&L Gates growth chief eyeing central Europe
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Janice Hartman, the global development partner, is involved with the global expansion of K&L Gates LLP at the downtown Pittsburgh office.
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Janice Hartman went to law school in the 1970s because she was searching for a skill. After studying political science, philosophy and drama at what was then a small liberal arts school for women, Chatham College, "I needed to tell people I could do something," said Ms. Hartman. "I thought of law school as almost a technical school."
She landed a summer position at the prestigious Pittsburgh firm then known as Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.
As managing editor of the Law Review at the University of Pittsburgh, she didn't have trouble securing offers from firms in places from New York to Atlanta. But she opted to return to K&L, where she began practicing corporate law and eventually became global development partner, a role that has her overseeing the firm's rapid and aggressive growth in the past decade to 35 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
- Job: Global development partner, K&L Gates
- Age: 59
- Hometown: Youngstown, Ohio; resides in Sewickley
- Education: Bachelor of arts, Chatham College, 1972; University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 1975.
- Career: 1975-82: associate, K&L Gates; 1982-present: partner, K&L Gates.
Along the way, the firm has expanded to about 1,800 lawyers -- including about 235 in Pittsburgh -- and its revenues last year topped $1 billion. Its growth has included mergers with existing firms as well as opening new offices with seasoned lawyers. One combination, with Seattle's Preston Gates & Ellis in 2007, resulted in the firm changing its name to K&L Gates.
The intense travel associated with becoming a worldwide law firm has meant Ms. Hartman doesn't do as much legal work for clients as she once did. Instead, she's handling mergers and acquisitions for her own firm. "I can do the legal work as well as being the negotiator. I oversee the transaction."
She chatted about her career last week in a conference room at K&L Gates' offices in the Oliver Building, where the staff is packing and some furniture is already tagged for an upcoming move a few blocks away to newly renovated digs at K&L Gates Center on Sixth Avenue.
First Published February 21, 2010 12:00 am
