Stoel Rives’ Firm Managing Partner Melissa Jones was interviewed by Law360’s Aebra Coe for an article titled “Law Firm Leaders: Stoel Rives’ Melissa Jones,” published April 8, 2020. (Subscription required.) In the article, Jones discusses the actions taken at Stoel Rives in response to the coronavirus pandemic while continuing to maintain its focus on achieving long-term goals that include increasing diversity and growing in certain markets.
Jones, who became Stoel Rives’ managing partner at the start of 2020, discussed how the firm has responded to the coronavirus pandemic — a firmwide closure of all its offices and increased reliance on calls and videoconferences to keep team members working from home connected.
“We know people can feel isolated, and we really want to make sure we’re providing as much support as we can so that we’re able to continue doing really high-quality work for our clients but also adjusting to the temporary new normal where everybody is apart,” she said.
Jones talked about Stoel Rives’ goals for the next five years, which include continuing to emphasize the firm’s strong energy and natural resources practices and building on its strong position in several of its markets including Portland, Salt Lake City, Boise and Anchorage.
Jones also discussed the firm’s efforts to increase diversity in its ranks, which as well as hiring diverse attorneys includes making them want to stay at the firm. “It’s great to do hiring, but then we want to make the firm a place that’s supportive and inclusive, and we have our diverse attorneys staying at the same rates nondiverse attorneys are,” she said.
Finally, asked which attorney, living or dead, she would most like to have lunch with, Jones said, “I would pick Ruth Bader Ginsburg just because she’s had such a fascinating life and I think it would be an interesting conversation.”