Jared C. Lusk

Partner, Office Managing Partner, Rochester, Nixon Peabody LLP

Years in current role: 5 as Office Managing Partner (Partner since 2006)

What was your biggest success in 2021?

Our biggest success in 2021 was continuing to provide exemplary service to our clients amid the challenges of another pandemic year. The economic recovery created new opportunities for our clients, and we were there to help them achieve their objectives. Consistency, reliability, and excellence defined the year for us. Additionally, I am proud of the way we successfully added legal talent to the firm. Even though most of us worked remotely for much of 2021, we brought in a diverse, dynamic slate of attorneys and quickly made them a part of our teams and our tight-knit firm culture.

What are your expectations for 2022?

Personally, I’m taking an optimistic view of the road ahead. None of us can predict the future, of course, but I’m hopeful for a year that allows us to reclaim some normalcy. I want to gather in person with our clients and my colleagues, see smiling faces instead of masks, and get out more into our neighborhoods and communities in ways that haven’t been possible. We have a special team, a special culture, and special clients at Nixon Peabody, and the more time we can spend investing in those things, the more successful 2022 will be.

What is your biggest takeaway from dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic?

Our firm was prepared for this challenge before we even knew it was coming. We’re the only law firm in Rochester with an international footprint; the practical effect of that is we’ve already been doing remote work for the past 25 years. When your client is overseas, and half your deal team is across the country, you’re already collaborating virtually. I’m so eager to get from the car to our building each morning, but Nixon Peabody is about much more than an office space. We have drawn on that knowledge and those lessons throughout the pandemic.

What is your favorite thing about the Rochester community?

We work in a world-class city that lives like a small town. Rochester is home to leading professionals in the law, academia, optics, laser technology, and more. Our attorneys are involved in multimillion-dollar, national, and international transactions each day. All of the professionals in our city do very sophisticated work, but at the end of the day, we have a 10-minute commute home, and we often run into our colleagues (or, sometimes, our opposing counsel) in the cereal aisle at the supermarket. That balance is incredibly appealing, and it’s one of my favorite things about this community.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 100 list for 2022. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.