October 4, 2017"”Barclay Damon announces the election of M. Cornelia (Connie) Cahill to the newly created position of deputy managing partner, effective January 1, 2018. Connie will work closely with John P. Langan, the firm's managing partner, to guide the firm and ensure its continued success. At Barclay Damon and many other law firms, the managing partner operates as chief executive officer of the enterprise.
Connie has been a member of Barclay Damon's Management Committee for nine years and is its longest-standing member. As the Albany representative on the Management Committee, her responsibilities include oversight of the Albany, Boston, and Washington DC offices. During Connie's tenure, the Albany office has doubled in size to roughly 40 attorneys and is now ranked in the Capital District as the second-largest law firm office.
As a public finance attorney and chair of that practice, Connie has more than 25 years of experience serving as bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, institution counsel, and bank counsel in a wide range of transactions. During her career, Connie has trained and led teams of public finance professionals that serve clients located throughout New York State, from Long Island to Buffalo. These clients include the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, New York State Housing Finance Agency, New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, numerous industrial development agencies and local development corporations, more than 100 municipalities and school districts, and all of the major investment bank underwriting firms active in the state. Under Connie's leadership, the firm's Public Finance Practice Area is one of the highest performing groups at the firm.
Connie was instrumental in forming the firm's Women's Forum, an affinity group that encourages, mentors, and champions women attorneys to enhance and promote their professional and personal success. In addition to internal activities, the Women's Forum hosts events throughout New York State for women clients and friends of the firm to share information, experiences, strategies, and problem-solving ideas in an open, trusting, and supportive environment.
Connie received her undergraduate degree from Siena College, her Juris Doctorate from Albany Law School, her LLM in Tax from New York University, and started her career at Millbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy in New York City.
"We are honored to welcome Connie to this important new role," John Langan said, "and I join my partners in their excitement for her expanded leadership role. Connie's accomplishments as a partner and leader of the firm have been second to none, and I look forward to the successes that are in store for the firm with her involvement at the helm. Our valued clients, our 275 attorneys, and our roughly 425 members of the Barclay Damon family are indeed fortunate to have Connie's leadership and vision."
Connie added, "I am grateful to work with so many talented and hard-working professionals and to take on new challenges and opportunities involved in helping lead this extraordinary, progressive firm. Under John's leadership, the firm has embraced excellence, change, growth, and diversity and inclusion, making these cornerstones of everything we do. The firm's support and advancement of the Women's Forum, our award-winning pro bono and shadowing programs, and our culture of inclusiveness make me proud to be part of Barclay Damon. I look forward to continuing to serve the needs of our clients while working with our management team as deputy managing partner to help guide the firm to even greater heights."
In addition to creating the deputy position, Barclay Damon has also established a chair position that remains unoccupied at this time. The position is available to serve the managing partner on select assignments by former managing partners transitioning from their position. As John Langan has served with distinction as managing partner for almost 18 years, the chair position is designed to allow the firm to access his expertise after his eventual transition.
As noted by Langan, "The managing partner of Barclay Damon historically has been resident in the Syracuse office, but consistent with our multi-office platform and our "no home office" structure, we were pleased to see another first"”that the partners elected Connie as an Albany office resident. Connie's election to the deputy managing partner position creates shared executive leadership to ensure that the firm remains strong and forward-looking for the benefit of our clients and employees."
Barclay Damon LLP, listed as a "Top 250 Firm" by The National Law Journal, is a full-service law firm with offices throughout the major cities of New York State and in Toronto, Boston, Washington, DC, and Newark. At 275 lawyers, Barclay Damon is the largest law firm in the Northeastern United States that is not centered in a major market. Barclay Damon provides comprehensive legal and business counsel to a diverse client base in 33 practice areas.