David Di Paolo intends to preserve BLG's culture and use AI to propel firm into the future
As Borden Ladner Gervais’s new chief executive officer, David Di Paolo plans to maintain the firm’s culture, embrace AI, and help the firm become nimbler all at the same time. And he expects his time as a litigator will help him accomplish these goals.
“One of the benefits of being a litigator is that you are both inherently pessimistic and inherently optimistic. And what I mean by that is you find the problems in everything,” Di Paolo says.
"But the corollary of that is, once you find the problem, you’re looking forward to solutions.”
On July 1, Di Paolo took on the responsibility of looking for solutions on behalf of BLG when he officially succeeded John Murphy as the firm’s national managing partner and CEO.
It’s a role that Di Paolo never would have expected to occupy a year ago. After being involved in the firm's management for a number of years, which included serving on its partnership board and heading up a commercial litigation dispute group, he made the decision to step back and focus on what he calls a “vibrant” capital markets and securities litigation practice. At the time, he felt he had accomplished all of the management goals he’d set out for himself. He also believed “that change is good when it comes to management roles at a law firm, and thought it was the appropriate time to pass the baton on to my successors.”
The search for BLG’s new CEO was a long and involved process. According to Di Paolo, the partnership board met with each partner at the firm, asking what they wanted from a new leader and for candidate recommendations. The firm asked the people on the resulting shortlist to apply for the job. The process included submitting a written application and taking part in an interview. “It was a thoughtful and robust process. It was not so fun to be in the middle of, if I’m being honest,” Di Paolo says. “But coming out the other end, it's a process that ensures that the person that gets the role has the buy-in of the partners.”
While he may be a big believer in the benefits of management shifts, stability and consistency have been hallmarks of Di Paolo’s life and career. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario to Italian immigrant parents, studied biology and psychology at McMaster University before attending law school at Western University, and still lives in the city. Di Paolo began articling with Borden & Elliot, one of the five regional law firms that merged to create what is now BLG, and has been part of the company ever since.
Spending nearly 30 years working for the same organization presents both benefits and challenges. On the plus side, Di Paolo says he has deep institutional knowledge of the firm, its people, and the way management has operated in the past. He understands what makes the firm “great” but admits that he “only knows what he knows.
“What that means is you really need to put in the time to understand what other firms are doing both well and not well, because that will inform the strategy you bring to bear in your own firm,” he says.
One thing he’s certain of is that AI will be part of his strategy to propel BLG into the future. He recalls attending a conference recently where the speaker insisted that AI wasn’t going to replace lawyers but that lawyers who don’t understand AI and how to use it will be replaced by those who do. He believes that using AI efficiently and effectively will essentially become table stakes for any lawyer and firm, and that the real value of legal professionals will be their judgement and their ability to offer sound advice to clients. Di Paolo intends to make AI training available to every member of the firm, no matter their role, so the entire BLG team has a thorough understanding of what AI can and can’t do.
With the continuing onslaught of new AI tools, however, Di Paolo is careful not to become overwhelmed by technological choices. Rather than taking the scattershot approach of trying every new AI-based tool available, he says the firm will make careful determinations about what will likely work and integrate well with existing technologies before even committing to a test.
The ability to work with AI will likely become an asset BLG considers when hiring new lawyers out of law school. While they may not need as much introduction to AI tools as some lawyers further along in their careers, Di Paolo has given a lot of thought to other ways the firm can help people get started in their professional lives.
“Coming out of COVID, and people working at home and now starting to get back into the office, there has definitely been… a sense amongst our younger lawyers that they want more support and guidance,” he says, adding that he’s heard similar sentiments from other law firm leaders. “I think that this younger generation expects more. They expect more from the organizations that they work in, and that’s not just in the legal field. They want more guidance, and they want more support, and they want more training, and they want more mentoring.
“While we have a very robust mentorship program at the firm, that is one area where I absolutely think that we can do better and really move the needle and support our younger people in a more meaningful way to fulfill their potential,” Di Paolo adds. "It sounds like a small thing, but it's a really big thing.”
He hopes to educate BLG’s partners on what the firm’s expectations are in terms of mentorship, support, and guidance outside of its formal mentorship program. It’s something that Di Paolo believes will enhance BLG’s existing culture of participation, encouragement, and camaraderie. He believes preserving the firm’s cultural values and traditions is vital to for the firm to build on its success.
Di Paolo is well aware of the economic challenges facing not just law firms but the entire Canadian economy. To that end, he is careful about how he defines a successful future for the firm. He won't say the firm necessarily needs to grow the number of lawyers on its roster — or conversely, to reduce its headcount for the sake of reductions and cost-savings. Instead, he expects to adapt in other ways to economic and political changes. For example, he points out recent discourse across Canada about nation-building and infrastructure and energy projects. He notes that the firm has a lot of clients involved in those areas and expects BLG will continue to grow its business in those fields. AI also presents a business opportunity, with BLG poised to advise clients about the risks of incorporating AI into their own platforms.
Even though Di Paolo has built a reputation as a litigator, he finds offering regulatory risk advice and guidance to clients – especially smaller organizations and startups – to be one of the most fulfilling aspects of his job due to the appreciative nature of his clients. Still, until he took on his CEO role, it had always been the prospect of standing before a top court or a tribunal that most invigorated him.
Switching to a CEO and national managing partner role means Di Paolo has had to find a new source of inspiration.
“You may want to check in with me in six months or so, and we’ll see if this holds true,” he says. “But I would say setting people up for success and then watching them grow, develop, and build into really high-profile practitioners will define whether I’m successful or not.
"If I can do that and create an environment in which our lawyers grow, develop and thrive, then, I’ve accomplished my mission, and it’ll get me out of bed.”
