SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Onondaga County Bar Association (OCBA) has honored John Langan — chair and former managing partner of Syracuse–based Barclay Damon LLP — with its 2022 Distinguished Lawyer Award. OCBA presented the award at its 145th Distinguished Lawyer Celebration held June 8, per its announcement released the following day. Danielle Fogel, OCBA’s immediate […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The Onondaga County Bar Association (OCBA) has honored John Langan — chair and former managing partner of Syracuse–based Barclay Damon LLP — with its 2022 Distinguished Lawyer Award.
OCBA presented the award at its 145th Distinguished Lawyer Celebration held June 8, per its announcement released the following day. Danielle Fogel, OCBA’s immediate past president, presented the award to Langan. The organization held the event at the Marriott Syracuse Downtown, according to the OCBA website.
In announcing the award, the OCBA said Langan’s “29-year career at Barclay Damon is marked by his commitment to the extraordinary growth and success of the firm … the transformative impact of the growth strategy created a seamless platform of offices in midsize and major-market cities across the Northeastern U.S. and Toronto.”
The announcement noted that during Langan’s tenure as managing partner, the firm grew from 60 attorneys in three offices to nearly 300 attorneys in nine offices and that he oversaw 11 separate firm-to-firm combinations ranging in size from 15 to 60 attorneys “as well as other large integrations,” Barclay Damon said.
Connie Cahill, succeeded Langan as managing partner of Barclay Damon on Jan. 1, 2021, when he became chair. In that role, which reports to Cahill, he focuses on the continued growth of the firm’s major-market offices in New York City, Boston, and New Haven, Connecticut.
“I’m deeply honored to receive this award and grateful to both the OCBA and to the attorneys and staff I’ve been so fortunate to call colleagues over the past several decades,” Langan said. “Even more than the expansion we’ve seen, I’m most proud of the inclusive and integrated culture we’ve worked together to build and of the strong inroads we’ve made in the areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender equity.”
“John’s legacy and impact on the future of our firm reach far beyond its extraordinary growth to the culture he’s nurtured,” Cahill agreed. “Barclay Damon is a firm that embraces change, and under John’s leadership, we learned to see change as an opportunity rather than a threat. This embrace of change includes our commitment to DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], which is driven by John’s belief, and our firm’s belief, that the best course of action comes from synthesizing the widest array of ideas from the most diverse pool of talent.”
Langan joined as a trial attorney in 1993 when it operated as Hiscock & Barclay. It would later become Barclay Damon following the 2015 combination with Buffalo law firm Damon Morey. Langan eventually became part of a small management team that is “widely credited with saving the firm from potential collapse after losing a key client due to a merger.”
Langan became managing partner in 2001, the firm said.