Law firm network TerraLex has appointed a senior Norton Rose Fulbright executive as its next chief executive, replacing longstanding head Terri Pepper.
Darryl Cross joined the network last month from Norton Rose Fulbright, where he was global chief collaboration officer, a role in which he was responsible for strengthening cross-border collaboration within the firm.
He is currently serving as co-CEO alongside Pepper, who will step down at the end of October to launch her own consulting firm.
He said one of his priorities would be to anticipate and respond to client needs more quickly. “We’re taking a very client-centric focus, trying to anticipate what clients will be running into over the next three to six months, and then be agile enough to assemble teams and groups of people on the fly to solve an entire business problem for a client.”
Cross’s association with TerraLex dates back to 2002–04 when he was chief marketing officer at national US law firm Benesch Law. Since then, his roles have included law firms practice group leader at Intapp and head of Amazon Web Services’ sales methodology team.
Derek Humphery-Smith, TerraLex’s global chair and a partner at Australian firm Lander & Rogers, said Cross was “the ideal person to lead our network into its next chapter” given his “deep understanding of international law firms, proven ability to connect people across jurisdictions, and longstanding relationship with TerraLex”.
Cross credited Pepper with transforming TerraLex over a tenure spanning more than a decade. In 2021, she was appointed as TerraLex’s first CEO after leading the network in various capacities since 2016.
Under her leadership, the network introduced member standards, launched the AI-powered tool myLexi and established the NextGen Advisory Committee to engage younger lawyers.
The TerraLex network is made up of more than 140 law firms fielding 23,000 lawyers in more than 135 countries. TerraLex's headquarters are in Miami Lakes, Florida.
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]
