Law firm Day Pitney LLP — which has a large Connecticut presence with offices in Hartford, Stamford, Greenwich, West Hartford and New Haven — has elevated its top commercial real estate attorney to lead the firm.
Michael P. Byrne, a Stamford-based partner who has chaired the firm’s real estate practice for more than a decade, became Day Pitney’s managing partner on April 2, succeeding Gregory A. Hayes, who stepped down after three years at the helm to return full-time to his private client practice.
During Hayes’ tenure, Day Pitney said it added 40 partners, including 21 lateral hires and 19 promotions, with expansion in Boston, Florida, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.
Byrne, who served three years on the firm’s executive committee before his elevation, said he plans to build on the firm’s recent growth through a strategic plan that accounts for artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies reshaping the legal industry.
In his early months as managing partner, Byrne said he intends to conduct a listening tour and strategic review to identify priorities and growth opportunities across the firm’s 13 offices. He will also continue his commercial real estate transactions practice, where his clients include life insurance companies, banks, pension funds and private equity funds.
The leadership shuffle extended beyond the managing partner seat. Hartford partner Sebastian M. Lombardi, who had led Day Pitney’s energy practice, was named to the executive committee, joining Byrne and Hartford partner Elizabeth A. Alquist.
Washington, D.C.-based partner Valerie L. Green was named to chair the energy practice, succeeding Lombardi.
On the firm’s executive board, Boston partner Jonathan S. Zelig was elected to fill the seat vacated by Hartford partner Namita Tripathi Shah, whose three-year term on the board concluded.
Day Pitney, founded in 1919 as Hartford-based Day & Berry and later rebranded following its 2007 merger with New Jersey-based Pitney Hardin, has roughly 300 attorneys across offices in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and the District of Columbia.
