How I Made Law Firm Leadership: 'Be More Intentional About Business Development,' Says James Barney of Finnegan
October 17, 2025
Law.com
On July 1, James Barney stepped into his new role as managing parter at Finnegan. In this Law.com How I Made It installment, James discusses his journey from a summer associate to becoming managing partner as well his goals for the firm under his leadership. Snippets from the interview can be found below. Read the full interview here.
How long have you been at the firm?
I joined Finnegan in 1998 as a summer associate.
How long were you a partner at the firm before being promoted to firm leadership?
I was elevated to partner in 2009. Since then, I’ve held several firm leadership positions prior to my current role as managing partner. I served as the appellate section leader from 2012 – 2016, and I also served on the firm’s management committee from 2018 – 2021.
How do you utilize technology to benefit the firm/practice and/or business development?
As an IP-focused firm, Finnegan has always embraced and deployed technology for business efficiencies and client service delivery. While it’s timely for many firms, we have been ahead of the curve in our approach to artificial intelligence (AI) and generative (GAI) technologies, which we leverage in key operational areas to boost productivity. Our AI tech tools committee is diligent in identifying tasks and best-use cases within the firm's practices that can be effectively optimized for efficiency and performance through AI integration. Our AI/GAI tool bench includes both proprietary and industry-standard tools, and we provide training on these tools to ensure they are being used properly and effectively.
Foundational to our approach is Finnegan’s commitment to safeguarding client data—securing our digital environment is an utmost priority. We keep an active ISO 27001 certification, which requires strict policies regarding data governance and annual third-party audits to assess our security protocols.
What advice would you give to someone whose goal is to ascend to firm leadership?
Growth comes from stepping out of your comfort zone. I advise young attorneys to learn from senior attorneys’ experiences and seek out opportunities, no matter how intimidating they may seem. I also think it’s important to have strong problem-solving skills. Being an effective problem solver not only helps you to better serve your clients by ensuring you understand their business, their priorities, and their definition of success in litigation, but that same lens can be applied to firm leadership opportunities.
Who had the greatest influence in your career that helped propel you to your leadership role?
I’ve had no shortage of superb mentors during my career at Finnegan, but two that rise to the top are the late Don Dunner and Mike Jakes, who taught me—each in their own way—the importance of clear, impactful writing, and how to find the one winning issue among a tangle of numerous interesting and enticing issues.
Please share with us any firm or industry initiatives that you are working on as well as the impact you hope to achieve.
As we’re starting to see, AI will have a major impact on the legal industry, both in our day-to-day processes, as well as in our clients’ businesses. As a firm with a strong AI practice, I’m excited to help drive collaboration across our patent, copyright, and privacy teams to meet the needs of our clients in a rapidly evolving landscape.
