🔒New Carmody Managing Partner Lahnin targets talent-driven growth

Fatima Lahnin, the new managing partner at Carmody, Torrance, Sandak and Hennessey, has spent her entire 25-year legal career at the New Haven firm, a fact that she says exemplifies its culture. “When I think about what makes Carmody Carmody, it's the people, the talent, and the clients first and foremost,” she said in a recent interview. In a profession where the departure rate for associates leaving their law firms within four years is over 70%, Lahnin would like to keep promoting that culture of longevity. “A lot of what I'm going to be focused on is talent retention,” she says of her new role. “I was given opportunity very early on, and it was really instilled in me that this is your opportunity to grow and to create a career for yourself. So I was set up for success and I want to continue that.”

IP law

Lahnin was born in Morocco. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. when she was two years old, landing in Wallingford, where there was a family connection. She’s maintained ties with the country, and adopted two children from Morocco 10 years ago. She continues to make her home in Wallingford. Lahnin didn’t initially gravitate toward the law, and instead saw herself heading to medical school. She worked at Yale’s Child Study Center, doing research into childhood developmental disorders. When she changed tracks to law, she attended Northeastern University School of Law, and then returned to New Haven, seeking a position in medical malpractice at what was then Carmody & Torrance. After about five years in medical malpractice, she moved into intellectual property law, where she has remained. “It's very complex in the sense that it's always changing,” she said of her specialty. “The law is ever evolving as technology changes and new issues arise. So I found it challenging.” She also enjoys the challenge of learning about clients’ technology and inventions so that she can represent them. Her career has included several high-profile cases. Lahnin was part of the legal team representing Waterbury-based MacDermid Printing Solutions in a trade secrets and breach-of-contract dispute against Cortron, a competitor in the printing technology industry. The case resulted in a $64 million judgment, which at the time was described as the largest intellectual property verdict in Connecticut.

Merger streak

Lahnin made partner in 2009, and has served in a number of leadership roles for the firm over the years. Now she steps up to managing partner, the third woman to take the position at Carmody. Ann Rubin was the first in 2005 — also the first woman elected to that role in any major Connecticut law firm. Lahnin replaces Rick Street, who had led the firm since February 2020. Street said the leadership transition had been in planning for about a year and that he and Lahnin worked closely on the handoff. “Carmody will be in exceptionally good hands under Fatima’s leadership,” Street said. Street’s tenure was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery, but he also guided the firm through a period of acquisitions. In 2023, Carmody merged with Guilford-based litigation and trial firm Donahue, Durham & Noonan, and then in 2025 it took on New London’s Waller Smith & Palmer, bringing the firm to 95 attorneys with about 75 support staff. Those mergers followed a much larger combination in 2014, when Carmody & Torrance joined with Stamford’s Sandak, Hennessey & Greco.

Lahnin said the expansion strategy is largely driven by efforts to grow the firm’s client base and capabilities. Donahue, Durham & Noonan was working extensively with Yale University, also a Carmody client. Waller Smith and Palmer had expertise in trusts and estates and probate litigation, a growth area for Carmody. In addition to New Haven, the firm has offices in Guilford, Litchfield, Southbury, Stamford, Waterbury and now New London. The Waller Smith acquisition gave Carmody its first presence in southeastern Connecticut. Lahnin said the firm will continue to look for expansion opportunities under her tenure, driven primarily by the need to add talent, particularly in trusts and estates and land use. She said the firm does not see a need to expand beyond Connecticut, noting it already serves clients nationwide. Lahnin said the firm is intentional about why it pursues mergers, arguing that clarity at the outset improves the odds of successfully integrating both lawyers and clients. “We're very deliberate in how we take care of our clients, and I think that's what's given us longevity, and it's allowed us to grow,” she said. She added that the firm assigns a single relationship manager to each client to coordinate work across practice areas, so clients have a clear point of contact rather than navigating multiple attorneys.

AI and human talent

Lahnin is also facing the challenge of implementing artificial intelligence advancements into Carmody’s workflows. Herself a technology enthusiast, she sees the benefits, but stresses that the firm is taking a measured approach to what is still a very unsettled area. “There is utility to it,” she said. “Finding the utility — that is more challenging than I think people initially thought.” She points to basic workflow tools that have already been incorporated, like transcription software for depositions. She also has colleagues assessing tools for contract drafting, billing and assisting in electronic discovery in litigation cases. “We are very much aware that it's not going anywhere, and so we want to be part of the incorporation of it, but do it in a way that is beneficial to our clients,” she said. Lahnin’s primary focus, though, is on human talent, both through developing new attorneys fresh out of law school, and in attracting mid-career associates looking for a lateral move. She says it’s harder to recruit than it was 10 years ago, and cites the desire for remote work as one of the main points of contention when the firm is hiring. It’s become a common demand since the pandemic, but in her view it’s not always the best way to grow a career. “There's a place for flexibility, and we certainly try to be flexible,” Lahnin said. “However, I will say that in the legal field, especially if you're a young attorney, a lot of how we train is face-to-face.” She said remote work can limit opportunities for collaboration and on-the-spot mentoring. What she is ultimately looking for, she said, is the potential for longevity similar to what she has experienced at the firm. “When we look for talent I actually look at the person and say, ‘is this somebody who can become a partner?’” she said. “I think we've had success in keeping people and retaining people like that who we can see from the start.”