The ANNOTICO Report

Regina M. Pisa, with wit, charm, and disarming persuasion (and obviously a
whole lot more) leads, merges, and recruits Goodwin Procter to near top of
Boston legal hierarchy.

Astoundingly, in the midst of the breakup of a rival legal firm, and during
a marathon recruiting blitz requiring many late night meetings,(and
successfully recruiting 60 of its members -the highest of any firm), Ms.
Pisa took a break, her only one, to cook a Christmas dinner for 30 members
of her extended Italian family!!!!!

In working-class Somerville's public schools, she was an over-achiever. She
made her Italian-immigrant father, Anthony Pisa, so proud when she received
acceptance letters from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton that he tucked them
into his carpenter's overalls and carried them to work.

Postgraduate study at Oxford and editing The Tax Lawyer at Georgetown's law
school ensured Pisa's passage into the rarefied world of Boston law.

Sixteen years after joining Goodwin, she became its youngest, and first
female, managing partner.

A Profile of Regina M. Pisa

HOW GOODWIN PROCTER WON MANY OF TESTA'S LAW PARTNERS
A rare woman at the helm, Regina Pisa mixes engaging style with persuasive
power

Boston Globe
By Kimberly Blanton
Globe Staff
February 6, 2005

Silicon Valley and Manhattan law firms descended on Boston in December,
throwing money at the hotshot talent fleeing the country's premier
high-technology law firm, Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, as it was unraveling.
Goodwin Procter, whose top partners earn over $1 million a year, could
offer them money too. But the Boston firm had something more: Regina M.
Pisa.

Pisa, Goodwin's managing partner, courted Testa partners individually,
often in late-night meetings. The only break she took was to cook a
Christmas dinner for 30 members of her extended Italian family. She looked
the Testa partners in the eye and convinced them they were critical to her
vision: Their high-tech expertise, combined with Goodwin Procter's strength
in advising emerging companies, would create a formidable player.

This "synergy" convinced Brian Pastuszenski, a prominent securities lawyer
whose Testa client list included Oracle Corp. and Alkermes Inc. William
Schnoor, a high-powered deal maker, said Pisa convinced him Goodwin would
be a good home for his clients, which ranged from Red Hat Inc. to Charles
River Ventures. Drawn by the momentum of Pisa's recruiting blitz, John
Egan, who had left Goodwin several years ago for a different firm, returned.

In what may be the biggest coup in Boston legal history, Pisa has struck
deals with 25 Testa partners and 35 associates -- more than any other firm.
Said Schnoor: "She was able to size people up and connect with them very
quickly."

A fast-changing US legal market that is increasingly dominated by giant
firms is shaking up Boston's legal community. At least three large firms
have failed -- Gaston & Snow, Hill & Barlow, and now Testa -- while others
have merged to create larger entities.

Goodwin Procter, with 630 lawyers, is not the largest or most profitable
firm in town. But Pisa is transforming the staid, old-line institution into
a tough competitor and earning praise, even from out-of-town firms invading
her Boston turf.

Under Pisa, Goodwin is "a very worthy competitor," said Robert Kafin, chief
operating partner of Proskauer Rose in Manhattan.

A handful of women sit at the helm of the 100 largest US law firms. After
polling Goodwin's lawyers for candidates to be their new leader, a
five-person committee drafted Pisa in 1998. She sought advice from Lawrence
Fish, chief executive of Citizens Financial Group.

As a banking partner, Pisa had helped land Citizens as a client and
impressed him during the banking company's negotiations to acquire the
retail operation of Mellon Financial Corp. He was drawn to her wit, and he
was the type of chief executive she could invite to, say, Jimmy Buffett's
concert in Fenway Park. She brings fine bottles of red wine when visiting
Fish and his wife at their summer home in Falmouth. Her risottos, pork
chops, and pestos are "brilliant," Fish said.

When offered the top job at Goodwin, Pisa asked him whether she should
accept. "He said a man would never" turn it down, she recalled. He also
stressed the importance of making it clear to a predominantly male
partnership that she's in charge.
"She took a corner office, she got a big desk, and she didn't dress in
pastels," Fish said. "People like her but they admire her, too."

Dressed in a purple-and-black sweater suit one recent morning, the
silver-haired Pisa is an imposing presence in her corner office, with a
sweeping view of Boston Harbor. She is busy and difficult to buttonhole for
an appointment. But when she speaks, she is open and direct.

In working-class Somerville's public schools, she was an over-achiever. She
made her Italian-immigrant father, Anthony Pisa, so proud when she received
acceptance letters from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton that he tucked them
into his carpenter's overalls and carried them to work.

Postgraduate study at Oxford and editing The Tax Lawyer at Georgetown's law
school ensured Pisa's passage into the rarefied world of Boston law.

Sixteen years after joining Goodwin, she became its youngest, and first
female, managing partner. "It didn't surprise us too much," said her
mother, Josephine Pisa.

At the peak of her power, Pisa's unique role in Boston generates high
expectations among female lawyers of what she could do to support their
advancement in the field. "She has a tremendous opportunity to play a key
role in addressing issues relating to the retention and advancement of
women in the law," said Lauren Rikleen, a senior partner at Bowditch &
Dewey, who is writing a book on the topic...

Pisa is 49, and her mother lives with her in Newton; her father died three
weeks before her Harvard graduation. Career came first. She did not marry
or have children but sits on the boards of Franciscan Hospital for Children
and Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
"I've helped more children with my position and access than I ever could as
a parent," said Pisa.

Disputing those who said she is uninterested in women's professional
issues, she pointed to her recent hiring of the firm's first chief human
resources officer, charged with helping all lawyers advance in the firm so
"no one gets lost in a firm that's grown as large as we are."

"Regina's very focused on people as individuals," said Laura Hodges Taylor,
a Goodwin partner and member of the executive committee. "If I went to her
and said, 'I need X or Y to make my life work,' she'd do that for me."

Now in her third three-year term as managing partner -- her reappointments
were rubber-stamped -- Pisa credits her success to two men: her father, who
taught his only child to dream big, just as he did when coming to this
country; and her mentor, Goodwin senior partner Henry Shepard.

"When I was a young lawyer and said to Henry, 'I don't know if I can cut it
at a big firm,' he said, 'What are you talking about? You're going to end
up running this place one day,' " she recalled. Women "need more voices
telling them that they can do it."

The focus of her tenure as managing director has been a strategic plan
following her mandate to make bold change.

She determined the Boston firm would become known for its expertise in five
practice areas with national appeal: intellectual property, private equity
and technology, product liability litigation, financial services, and real
estate securities.

Pisa knows how to get what she wants. Last year, she phoned John Aldock,
chairman of Shea & Gardner in Washington, who "wasn't terribly interested"
in merging. For months, Pisa phoned and e-mailed him, engaging him in a
candid, continual dialogue. Each time he brought up an issue -- for
example, that there should be two Washington lawyers on the firm's
executive committee -- she resolved it.

It was not, Aldock said, a style he expected from a hard-charging lawyer.
The firms merged in October.

"Pisa is refreshingly different," he said.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/
2005/02/06/how_goodwin_procter_won_m
any_of_testas_law_partners/