We are honored to introduce The 2026 Lawdragon 100 Managing Partners You Need to Know.
They inspire and lead as never before. They are impassioned, inclusive and represent a new era of what it looks like to lead a law firm.
They steer global enterprises whose success is measured in the billions; local law firms in a family’s third generation; midsized firms intensely competing for survival; and plaintiff firms finding the right cases and pathways to achieve lasting success.
There are tens of thousands of law firms in all shapes and sizes. All of which require the ability to manage independent-minded legal professionals who are recruited on an ongoing basis. All of which is made significantly more difficult by the hostile winds blowing through the global economy and the legal profession.
E. Leon Carter is the founder of Carter Arnett in Dallas and one of the leading lights of the estimable Dallas trial bar. A native of Carthage in East Texas, he has assembled his expertise in more than 100 trials, starting as a Dallas County Assistant District Attorney and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas. He became a partner at Jackson Walker before founding his own firm, which has 15 attorneys handling a wide array of business litigation.
Jennifer A. Post is Managing Partner of Thompson Coburn’s Los Angeles office, a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and leads its Emerging Companies practice. The first openly gay person to lead an office at Thompson Coburn, she has championed inclusion, mentorship and professional advancement for underrepresented groups. For more than three decades she has advised lenders, investors and high-growth companies in transactions, helming her own transactional law practice in Beverly Hills before joining Thompson Coburn in 2016. She has played a key role in firmwide initiatives that support diverse attorneys and create pathways to leadership within the corporate and finance practices.
Georgia Dawson became Senior Partner of Freshfields in 2021 – the first woman in the firm’s nearly 300-year history to hold the post. She drive’s the firm’s global strategy with an ambitious vision for the future. She began her career in Sydney, joining Freshfields in Hong Kong and London in 2004. Before her selection as Senior Partner, she was Asia Managing Partner and the Asia practice group leader for dispute resolution. She specializes in litigation and investigations across borders and jurisdictions, including money laundering, bribery and human rights breaches. A champion for diversity and inclusion, she fosters a progressive workplace and supports pro bono efforts that address structural inequality.
These leaders and others recognized here reminded us once again of the critical importance of leaders willing to embrace a positive vision of the future and find ways to achieve it. For some, that’s measured in dollars or footprint in global markets. For others, inclusion, opportunity and well-being. For others still preserving a legacy.
We truly appreciate the submissions from so many firms and the innovation, focus and drive nominated lawyers bring to their firms. We paired those submissions with our journalistic research to create this guide. Those individuals shown with an asterisk are members of Lawdragon’s Hall of Fame.
