Joseph J. Palermo

Joe provides executive oversight of day-to-day operations and works closely with leadership to help drive the firm’s positioning and strategic plan. With responsibility for all business functions, he is focused on creating greater efficiency across finance, human resources, marketing, and technology in order to provide superior service to the partnership and the highest value to clients. He strives to embody the firm’s core values and enable its lawyers to compete and win in a dynamic legal industry.

Joe has more than 25 years of increasing management responsibility in professional services industries. Prior to joining Lowenstein Sandler, he served as Chief Operating Officer of a top 20 global law firm for more than 10 years and, previously, as Chief Financial Officer for two other national law firms. Joe holds an M.B.A. from Boston College and a B.S. from Northeastern University.

NEWS & INSIGHTS

In the Media

> January 3, 2023
Lowenstein Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo speaks to Law360 Pulse about how the firm is preparing for 2023. Palermo says, "I feel like we're in a bit of a transition from the years of COVID and the Great Resignation. We're thinking about what are the headwinds next year in terms of economic volatility."

> June 1, 2022
The ABA Journal describes Lowenstein’s plans to renovate and expand its New York office at a time when other firms are scaling back. Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo says the new design will create a “destination space [for]…fostering collaboration opportunities and ad hoc mentoring.’ The firm’s architectural plans envision “welcoming and lively spaces that encourage contact,... [balanced] with quiet nooks and sound-muffling acoustics to foster concentration and deep thinking. Smaller offices encourage lawyers to move meetings to livelier communal spaces, and glass office walls brighten work areas and promote eye contact and connection.”

> November 10, 2021
The American Lawyer showcases Lowenstein’s expanded adoption and surrogacy benefits for firm personnel, updated offices, and hybrid scheduling as the firm seeks to create the post-pandemic “workplace of the future.” Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo discusses the firm’s new benefits and wellness programs for veterans, those who are disabled, and staff members of color: “We really want to create an environment and lean on our culture to provide the best working conditions and benefits we can offer to make this a place people want to work.” 

Palermo also describes the firm’s planned renovations and expansions to its Manhattan location, as well as other new amenities to enable in-person collaboration. While hybrid work will be the standard going forward, Palermo says, “Working in-person is critical to the culture of the firm.”

> September 27, 2021
Reuters reports on Lowenstein’s announcement that it has extended the lease on its Midtown office, noting that the firm is “doubling down on its flagship office in Manhattan.” The outlet quotes Gary M. Wingens, the firm’s Chair and Managing Partner, who says, “It’s a much larger investment than just adding another 25,000 square feet in New York. New York remains the most important legal market in the U.S., and the U.S. remains the most important legal market in the world.” Wingens continues: “We’ve learned we can be relentlessly efficient, but there are clearly losses in collaboration, relationship building, [and] firm culture that you can’t replicate in an all-virtual law firm.”

Reuters further states that the new space “will serve both as a lure to prospective hires and as a model for the legal industry for promoting health and wellbeing.” The article quotes Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo, who states, “The war for talent in law is accelerating and will only get more challenging as attorneys and the next generation of lawyers weigh their options about where and how they want to work.

> March 29, 2021
Lowenstein Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo speaks to The New York Times in an article addressing the impact of COVID-19 and the rise of remote work on New York City’s commercial real estate market. Palermo says, “I could find few people, including myself, who think we are going to go back to the way it was.” Lowenstein is committed, however, to maintaining the firm’s physical presence in New York City, while at the same time considering all options, including changes to footprint and workspace layout; flexible arrangements such as hoteling; new technology to better connect offices and remote workers; and schedules that bring teams together for collaboration and mentoring while preserving flexibility. Palermo believes “New York City has been down this road before; it has always bounced back, and we believe it will again.”

> April 2020
In Legal Management magazine, Lowenstein Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Palermo discusses how evolving client needs have inspired new technology- and legal-oriented industry roles within law firms. “Clients are looking for more value, and we’re looking for ways to add that to our suite of services so we feel we understand their business and challenges,” he says. “The business of law has become more and more complex, and investing in professionals who know how to manage these systems will continue to be a focus for us and should be for other firms.”

Palermo also addresses the firm’s addition of Victor Barkalov as its first Chief Innovation & Information Officer. Palermo says, “The firm wanted to convey in his title that he not only has to come up with innovative ways of using technology with clients, but also needs to do the traditional stuff, in terms of managing infrastructure, making sure his internal clients have what they need to service external clients.” Regarding additional hires in the area of privacy and information security, Palermo states, “Client requests are getting more serious in terms of what they’re looking for us to do [when] managing their data. We want to be able to satisfy whatever the requests are.”

> June 4-7, 2019
The addition of three new leaders to the firm’s senior management team–Victor Barkalov as Chief Innovation & Information Officer, Kevin Iredell as Chief Marketing Officer, and Mikhail Makarovsky as the firm’s first Director of Pricing & Profitability–is highlighted in Bloomberg Law – Big Law Business, the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey’s (CIANJ) Business Beat newsletter, New Jersey Business, New Jersey Law Journal, NJBIZ, Law.com, General Counsel News, and The Deal. The New Jersey Law Journal quotes Joseph J. Palermo, who notes the importance of each role in providing expertise for both the firm's lawyers and clients. (subscription required to access certain content) View Lowenstein’s news announcement about these executives’ arrival to the firm.

> January 25, 2018
Gary Wingens and Joe Palermo are quoted in Bloomberg Law – Big Law Business about Joe’s joining Lowenstein as COO and, more broadly, about the growing importance of the COO role in law firms’ strategic growth and direction. Joe’s arrival at the firm was also covered in LawFuel.