In 10 years as managing partner and then U.S. CEO of Dentons, Mike McNamara helped stitch together the self-described “world’s largest law firm” by clinching a merger after it was initially rejected and championing an expansion audaciously named “Project Golden Spike.”
Along the way, he gained enough power to pick members of his board—making it stunning when that board ousted him on a Friday afternoon before the July 4 holiday weekend without a permanent successor lined up.
While McNamara remains a partner, he has virtually no clients and hasn’t been a practicing lawyer in years, five current or former Dentons ...