Cantor Colburn LLP has elected M. Brad Lawrence as its next managing partner, marking the end of the founding partners’ decades-long leadership of the Hartford-based intellectual property law firm.
Lawrence, a partner and co-chair of the firm’s electrical engineering practice, assumed the role Jan. 1, becoming the firm’s first managing partner who is not one of its founders.
Lawrence succeeds Philmore H. Colburn II, who stepped down after serving as the sole managing partner for the past year. Colburn shared the managing partner role with co-founder Michael Cantor from 1999 until Cantor stepped down Dec. 31, 2024, in accordance with a partnership agreement requiring partners to exit leadership at age 65.
Lawrence brings two decades of experience in intellectual property counseling and manages one of the firm’s largest client portfolios. He has spent the past year transitioning into firm-wide leadership, immersing himself in operational, financial and strategic dimensions of firm management.
The leadership transition comes as Cantor Colburn maintains its position as one of the nation’s largest IP law firms. The firm ranks No. 5 among U.S. law firms for patents, according to the analytics service IDiyas, and has more than 70 attorneys and agents providing counsel across a wide range of technologies and industries.
Cantor, who remains with the firm as an employee focusing on client development, told the Hartford Business Journal last year that the mandatory retirement age for partners was implemented as a retention tool to give younger partners a clear pathway to leadership.
Lawrence earned his law degree magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
The firm has offices in Hartford, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Detroit.
