Firm Watch
Jun. 18, 2002
Orrick Herrington: BROBECK'S FORMER AD MAN RETURNS FROM EAST COAST
Just three months at Philadelphia's Dechert , marketing director David Geyer - the architect behind Brobeck Phleger & Harrison 's nationwide television ad campaign - has returned to the Bay Area to join Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe .
Geyer will direct Orrick Herrington's 30-member marketing department and be involved in the San Francisco firm's day-to-day planning.
He starts July 1.
Geyer's stint at Dechert, a 700-lawyer East Coast firm best known for its financial services and litigation practices, was short-lived. He joined Dechert in April but immediately longed to return to the Bay Area, where he has a home in St. Helena.
Geyer is best known for his work at San Francisco-based Brobeck, where he was credited with launching the country's first nationwide television campaign for a law firm.
The ads, which aired on news channels CNN and CNBC this year and last, touted Brobeck as a technology powerhouse. They cost the San Francisco firm $5 million to $6 million.
Geyer says he was proud of his accomplishments at Brobeck, and he says he was particularly pleased with the firm's increasing revenues and profits during the dot-com boom.
He called Brobeck's recent woes, which include layoffs, cost cutting and the high-profile departure of former Chairman Tower Snow Jr. and a group of 20 partners to London's Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells, a tragedy.
Geyer left Brobeck in April after five years because, he said, the firm "put all their eggs in the tech basket, the bottom fell out and their management had a falling out."
In that environment, he says, it was impossible to get anything new done.
"It was not a productive or a positive environment," says Geyer, a 15-year veteran of marketing who has worked at accounting firm PriceWaterhouse and New York advertising agency J. Walter Thompson.
Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr. says Geyer joining Orrick was a "terrific" development.
"He is one of the most innovative marketing thinkers among law firms," Baxter says.
Geyer replaces Norm Rubenstein, who will join law firm consultant Zeughauser Group.
Orrick has 600 lawyers in 10 offices worldwide.
Staff Writer
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