As we celebrate 25 years since the merger of Nixon Peabody, we’re sharing the stories of attorneys and staff colleagues who were here from the start. We’re excited to kick off our spotlight series with a Q&A featuring Phil Taub, who started at Peabody & Brown in 1994.
Tell us about your role in 1999, when Peabody & Brown merged with Nixon Hargrave. What was the firm like then, and how has it changed since?
I was a fifth-year associate at Peabody & Brown when the merger happened. Given our relatively small size, we enjoyed that everyone at Peabody & Brown knew each other pretty well. There wasn’t a big difference between associates and partners—everyone really felt part of one big team.
The merger was exciting because, for us, Nixon added the New York piece, which felt like a huge leap forward. We became a lot bigger in scale, in terms of lawyers and depth. At Peabody & Brown, we mostly had smaller, entrepreneurial clients, whereas Nixon Hargrave had a long history of serving large, well known publicly traded companies. So we immediately benefited from that experience. That merger then put us on a path to expand out West and all over the country.
The leadership of Peabody & Brown and Nixon Hargrave turned out to be very prescient and smart in embracing the merger.
Fast forward to today. What does this 25-year milestone mean for the firm?
I think it means that each firm picked a great partner. It means that we were a great cultural fit together. Although we were in different geographies and serving different clients, we really did see the world the same way. It didn’t take long for us to say we were all Nixon Peabody. Harry Trueheart and Nestor Nicholas—the original co-managing partners of Nixon Peabody—really set a good tone, demonstrating that we’re all in this together. And our culture continues to get stronger because of this foundation. At the end of the day, law firms are just made up of people, and we picked good people.
What do you think have been the key drivers of the firm's success over the years?
Nestor always used to say, “it’s a talent game.” Success is about people, leadership, culture, and platform. We’ve been blessed in each of those four areas. We’re not an elbows-up kind of culture. We are all about helping each other be successful. We’re very collaborative and have a high degree of trust in our colleagues.
People often ask me why I’ve stayed at the same firm for 30 years. Part of that answer is that I’ve enjoyed working with the people. But also, as the world evolves, so has our firm. We don’t always do things the same way just because we’ve always done it that way.
How do you see the firm's role and impact on the industry evolving in the next decade?
There will always be new challenges. Technology is always challenging our industry to adapt. AI large language models, how we staff ourselves, and how we provide services to our clients will continue to be top of mind. I know we are going to give these challenges the time and attention they need, manage through the change, and figure it out.
I feel optimistic because our future comes down to our people, our leadership, and our culture. We check all those boxes. We don’t know all the questions and we don’t know all the answers, but we are going to stick together and figure it out.
