Debbie Cazan Featured in Law360 Pulse Q&A on Atlanta Office Growth and Plans

Bradley attorney Debbie Cazan was featured in Law360 Pulse in a Q&A session regarding the firm’s Atlanta office growth and expansion strategy. Since launching the Atlanta office just over two years ago, the firm has experienced remarkable growth, having tripled the attorney roster to become the firm's third-largest office.

Cazan joined the firm in 2023 and was recently named Atlanta office managing partner. When asked about growth, she said growth is “not the most important measurement that we're after.” Bradley will not grow “in any way that abandons our principles or our ideals or our core values,” she added. “We are not going to waver in our commitment to quality and client service,” Cazan said.

Cazan explained that the office’s growth was driven in part by people reaching out to the firm. “Pretty early on it wasn't that we were even recruiting anymore.” As she takes the helm of the office, Cazan said she views her job as helping the office's lawyers to be the best attorneys, mentors and community members that they can be, which “helps not only that person, but this office, and so I'm really interested in the rising tide concept.”

Law 360 Pulse: You joined the firm shortly after Bradley Arant opened its Atlanta office. Why did you join then?

Cazan: It's really interesting. I started a few weeks later, but John Spangler and I were technically part of the original group that opened the office. Having sat in so many interviews over the past couple of years on the other side of it, I think what's really interesting is that you hear the same story from all of the people who opened the office, which is, "I wasn't looking." That's the common theme among all of the lawyers who started over here: "I wasn't looking, but if there was going to be a place that could pique my interest, it was Bradley." So the same was true for me. Bradley had the name and the prestige and for me, very importantly, it had the culture that I was looking for. It's really interesting to me that Bradley can be such a large, full-size firm and yet still feel so small and collegial and all of the things that people say they're looking for but often give up when they go to a BigLaw firm.

I really appreciated when Bradley was putting this office together that there was a focus on not only making sure that they had nationally recognized lawyers with nationally recognized practices, but they also made sure that we were a fit. That spoke volumes to me because they were looking at a lot of different practices and a lot of different attorneys, and they were very purposeful in the people that they chose to open this office.

That was very important to me and made me believe that what they were saying was true, which is that the culture of the firm is very important to them.

For me personally, it is the preeminent construction practice as far as law firms go, that was obviously really important to me too. Bradley has over 80 construction lawyers and has won best construction practice for several years out the past handful of years.

Law 360 Pulse: What was it like seeing the office grow from 20 to more than 60?

Cazan: When we all came over, that was something we hoped for and we had our fingers crossed for, but I don't think any of us realized how quickly this would happen and how quickly we would make a footprint in the Atlanta market.

What was really interesting was that — and this isn't the case without exception — but pretty early on it wasn't that we were even recruiting anymore. People could see that we were giving very good client service and our culture, and people were interested in coming to talk to us. So that was interesting, and it's all very exciting, obviously, because it's what you hope for. When we opened the office, we were in temporary space for a really long time. We were in this strange call center space on the sixth floor in this building, and you almost couldn't imagine that just two years later we would be triple the size. I think now we're the third-biggest Bradley office, which just seems like that couldn't have happened as quickly as it actually did.

It's really exciting. The feeling in the office is excitement for what has happened. Not only that, but it's the trajectory that this office is taking and where this office can go.

We all see that we've come a really long way, but then it's all given us this great opportunity to cross-sell each other, cross-sell the firm and I think we're just growing and going to continue to grow by leaps and bounds.

Law 360 Pulse: What does it mean to you to have been named as the office's managing partner?

Cazan: When I found out, I was just really excited, because I'm interested in helping be a part of the continued growth of this office. I was on the associate committee before this and I really think it's critically important to mentor associates, and I've always had an interest in that. I think I kind of take that view.

Anybody who is credentialed in this office and anybody who wins an award in this office and anybody who is noted for community service in this office — all of that helps not only that person, but this office, and so I'm really interested in the "rising tide" concept.

I want to make sure that everybody in this office is not only the best lawyer that they can be, but the best partner that they can be, the best mentor that they can be, the best person in their community that they can be. I think all of those things together will just further increase Bradley's footprint in the Atlanta market.

It's really exciting to me. I'm thrilled to be in this position and to try and help take this office into the next phase.

Law 360 Pulse: Do you plan on growing the office? What are your plans for retention?

Cazan: Office morale is critical to me. I want to make sure that the baseline is excellent legal services, but I have found my best friend in life in my career. The person I sit next to, I've been sitting next to for the past 20-plus years. Not that that will happen for everybody, but I want the office to be an enjoyable place to be. There's no reason that you can't make friends and enjoy being in the office. That was important to me.

As far as growth, the growth trajectory that we've had has been part of an effort to attract top legal talent. It is not that we are chasing growth. We are not taking unnecessary risks. We're not following the herd. We are growing because we are offering excellence in legal services. I think that's really important.

We're not going to grow in any way that abandons our principles or our ideals or our core values. We are not going to waver in our commitment to quality and client service.

I think all of this talk about growth needs to be bookended by those concepts, because those are the most important concepts. Growth is not the most important measurement that we're after.

Law 360 Pulse: What areas is the office strong in? What areas do you want to fill out?

Cazan: I think every practice we have here, we have the top-tier lawyers in these fields. We just got an amazing [intellectual property] group. We've got a great white collar partner. A few of us handle construction. We've got financial services, real estate and corporate. Really and truly, within these practice areas, we have best-in-class lawyers.

As far as where we want to go with the office, I think we can certainly fill out some of those practices, because the demand is there. I wouldn't be surprised, and we may be already or very close to being there, but to say Atlanta is a full-service office. Now do we need to be? No, because we have 700-plus lawyers and 13 different offices, and we have breadth and depth across the firm.

But I do think it is nice to say we do have a full-service office. I think that we're just about there. We can certainly fill in some of the practices and, of course, there's room to add additional practice areas, but it is going to be more of a consideration of "is this the right lawyer, and is this the right practice," rather than just going out and trying to fill a spot. But that's the way that we've grown for the past two years, so really there's not a different approach to growth. It's very purposeful and deliberate.

The full article, “How Bradley Arant Is Steering Fast-Growing Atlanta Office,” was published by Law360 Pulse on July 3, 2025. (login required)