Minneapolis' Peter Michaud now leading Ballard Spahr nationwide

This past year, Peter Michaud took to the road, preparing to become chairman of the 600-attorney firm Ballard Spahr.

Now at the helm and familiar with the 15 offices from Minneapolis and Philadelphia to Atlanta and Los Angeles, he sees Ballard Spahr getting even bigger and leveraging technology more.

One thing, though. While the native Minnesotan will split his time between his home state and other offices, especially the firm's Philadelphia headquarters, he has no plans to move.

"I love Minneapolis," he said.

The Hamline University and University of Minnesota Law School graduate is the first leader outside the Philadelphia headquarters to take the reins of the 139-year-old firm with 1,200 employees.

Michaud grew up on the east side of St. Paul and spent his law career at Minneapolis-based Lindquist & Vennum, where he built a national legal practice focusing on private equity, mergers, corporate finance and other business transactions.

Ballard Spahr acquired the 170-attorney Lindquist firm in 2018. The next year, Michaud became chairman of Ballard's Business and Transactions Department.

Michaud succeeds Mark Stewart, who served as chairman for 12 years.

"I'm excited about this position," said Michaud, 55. "One of my goals is to grow. I am focused on finding additional talented attorneys to practice in a variety of areas that I believe our clients either need today or will need in the future."

He is particularly interested in expanding the firm's well-established mergers and acquisitions, real estate and finance and litigation practices, he said during an interview last week. This includes in the Minneapolis office, he said.

Michaud also hopes to find a smaller law firm that might make a good merger partner. He'd like to expand geographically, possibly opening an office in a region of the country where Ballard has clients but no offices.

"We're really open to all kinds of ideas, but we're looking at the Pacific Northwest, we're looking at Florida, Texas, Chicago," he said. "These are some areas that are on our radar."

Ballard Spahr law partner April Hamlin said Michaud must overcome challenges convincing smaller law firms they won't just be gobbled up and ignored at a big national firm. She added that Michaud may be the perfect person to lead that charge, since he rose up the ranks to head Ballard after joining the firm from the much smaller Lindquist & Vennum.

Michaud also is "a consummate people person. He's the kind of person that really just inspires people to be their best and gives them the comfort that he's got their back," said Hamlin, who has worked with Michaud for 25 years.

Beyond his people skills, Michaud plans to use technology to help with Ballard's future.

Artificial intelligence software can help the law firm become more efficient in cataloging and managing thousands of legal documents, he said. All the details are not in place, but A.I. will have a place at Ballard.

That forward thinking has its fans.

Stewart, the litigator and outgoing chairman who will remain at Ballard as a partner, said that under Michaud, it's important the law firm "moves forward as an innovator in the industry."

"Peter is an extraordinary talent, a friend, and someone who has been a key part of the leadership of the firm over the past several years," Stewart said, adding he looks forward to seeing Michaud build upon Ballard's culture of inclusion, collaboration and innovation.

Ballard Spahr is the 87th largest law firm in the United States, with roughly $500 million in annual revenue and 600 attorneys.

The law firm also prides itself on pro bono work. Many of its attorneys perform volunteer work in the areas of civil rights, immigration, social justice and eliminating housing disparities. Ballard Spahr provided 54,000 hours of free legal assistance last year.

"It's important," Michaud said, adding that he is proud his firm takes the atypical step of crediting its attorneys for the billable hours they'd normally receive in order to conduct such work.

In recent years, more calls for free legal help were received and answered. It's a trend Michaud doesn't envision changing.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and civil unrest in 2020, Ballard Spahr joined Dorsey & Whitney, Fish & Richardson, Fredrikson & Byron and other Minnesota law firms in representing victims of police violence and those who suspect their arrests were racially motivated.

In 2020, Ballard Spahr's Minneapolis and Philadelphia offices launched a Racial Justice and Equality Initiative. One effort organized attorneys to volunteer as election workers so voting stations in poorer neighborhoods had enough staff to stay open during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite becoming chairman, Michaud said he isn't giving up his own work in the pro bono arena. He is currently assisting a Guatemalan woman who was physically and sexually abused and is now seeking asylum in the U.S.

Attorneys choose their own volunteer subject areas, he said. "I think that's an example of how dedicated we are to it. We're telling our attorneys, this is something you want to spend your time on and we support you in doing so."

Karla Vehrs, managing partner of Ballard Spahr's Minneapolis office, said the national firm should benefit from Michaud's leadership in the coming years.

“He approaches every interaction and relationship with authenticity, which was undoubtedly key to our firm deciding to place our trust in Peter,” Vehrs said. “Just as important, Peter has outstanding judgment and a clear vision of the future of Ballard Spahr.”