Great Legal Minds Deliver Creative Solutions

This list of innovative individuals represents those lawyers who stood out during research for the US Innovative Lawyers report as having broken the mould of expectations. The list does not purport to be the top 10 lawyers, nor the top 10 legal innovators, in the US.

These individuals have been chosen as representatives of this report. To a certain degree they reflect the filter through which we looked at innovation this year – namely the activities of lawyers in cleaning up after the credit crisis of 2008.

RSG Consulting, the FT’s research partner for the report, produced a list of 55 candidates that comprised lawyers who had emerged through the research as well as names submitted by law firms. In some ways, selecting just 10 from the 55 was almost impossible, as all the lawyers had innovated to some degree.

However, the research team set about interviewing the individuals, with a suite of questions designed to differentiate between excellence and innovation. All the individuals listed here had a slightly different take on what constituted innovation. One common attribute they identified was openness, both in terms of thought and attitude. Others included a commitment to constant improvement, creativity and imagination.

Sources of inspiration for these lawyers differ widely. Dino Barajas of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld describes his moments of innovation in a way that is akin to Zen Buddhism – as “being the one person that is able to be the pillar of calmness in the hurricane”.

Jack Butler of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom finds his way to innovation through thinking pictorially. Jason Kravitt of Mayer Brown says he gets his best ideas when he is relaxed, and believes his propensity to innovate comes from living abroad and mixing with artists.

For several of the innovators, their best ideas do not come through “eureka moments” but through hard work, tenacity and, most importantly, evolution – a concept that might convince the sceptics who still believe that the term “innovative lawyers” is an oxymoron. – Reena SenGupta

Jack Butler
Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Jack Butler has advised on bankruptcies and out-of-court restructurings for companies such as Kmart, Xerox, Singer and CIT. His work has required consistently creative solutions, and he has notched up a number of firsts. He advised Delphi through its bankruptcy from 2005 to 2009, in what he describes as “a deal of a lifetime”. Rescuing the largest, most diversified car parts maker was crucial to the finely balanced survival of the US automotive industry.

Its failure could have had serious knock-on effects for the rest of the industry.

In 2005, Mr Butler and Steve Miller, chief executive of Delphi, talked about drawing a line in the sand, knowing that if legacy obligations in the auto industry were not addressed, they would have serious ramifications in the future. Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its own obligations while continuing operations.

However, as the company prepared to emerge from bankruptcy in 2008, it was hit by the effects of the credit crisis, and the routine, if complex, restructuring quickly became a matter of crisis management. Mr Butler’s creativity and tenacity helped convince the company’s board and creditors to continue along a modified plan of reorganisation rather than liquidation.