News Release
McGlinchey Managing Member Rudy Aguilar passes the baton to Michael Ferachi
Read Time: 3 minsMcGlinchey Stafford is proud to announce that Michael D. Ferachi became the firm’s new Managing Member (Partner), effective Jan. 1, 2021.
Previously serving as Senior Operations Manager for the firm, Michael has worked closely with predecessor Rodolfo “Rudy” J. Aguilar, Jr. to lead McGlinchey over the past two years as part of the firm’s succession planning strategy. Despite the challenges that the legal industry faced in 2020, McGlinchey had a successful year under their leadership, and was able to onboard a number of key lateral hires.
“Between hurricanes here in Louisiana and powering through the pandemic in all of our offices, our team has proven that we can overcome any challenge.”
“I am honored and grateful to serve the firm and our clients in this new role,” said Michael. “Between hurricanes here in Louisiana and powering through the pandemic in all of our offices, our team has proven that we can overcome any challenge as we continue to grow strategically and deliver excellent legal services to the clients who depend on us.”
Michael will lead the firm into a new era with an initiative called #McGlincheyForward. This initiative will focus on positive change through continuing the firm’s growth strategy, strengthening the firm’s inclusive culture, empowering the firm’s employees, and surpassing clients’ expectations with exceptional service.
“His leadership will help guide us through whatever challenges may lie ahead so that we can continue to capitalize on opportunities for growth.“
“Michael is the right leader for McGlinchey as we begin to navigate 2021,” said Rudy. “His leadership will help guide us through whatever challenges may lie ahead so that we can continue to capitalize on opportunities for growth.”
In addition to his leadership role at the firm, Michael is an experienced trial attorney who advises clients on consumer finance litigation, class actions, business disputes, and insurance defense matters. He has handled cases involving a full range of federal statutes and regulations pertaining to consumer finance, and his work includes litigating disputes involving consumer finance institutions of all sizes as well as airlines, outdoor advertising, commercial finance entities, construction companies, and other entities. He has tried numerous cases to verdict and handled dozens of appellate matters.
Rudy will return to his practice full-time, handling corporate transactions (including commercial financing, real estate development, and general business matters), supporting industrial projects from development through operation, providing insurance regulatory counsel to clients nationwide, and advising automobile manufacturers and heavy equipment manufacturers regarding ancillary insurance products.
“I am very excited about the firm’s progress and very enthusiastic about the team we have at McGlinchey to face the future. From the practice of law to the business of law, we are well-positioned and poised for growth.“
“I am grateful to Rudy for his mentorship and leadership. I am very excited about the firm’s progress and very enthusiastic about the team we have at McGlinchey to face the future,” Michael said. “From the practice of law to the business of law, we are well-positioned and poised for growth. We’ve doubled down on our commitment to equity and inclusion and are investing in various programs and technology platforms that will equip every McGlinchey employee to work efficiently and meet the rapidly changing needs of the legal industry.”
Reflections from Rudy
Before he passed the reigns to Michael, Rudy shared the following thoughts about his 18 years as McGlinchey’s Managing Member:
“The thing I’m proudest of throughout my tenure as Managing Member is our commitment to taking care of our people, so they could take care of our clients,” Rudy said. He led the firm from 2002-2020, seeing McGlinchey through Hurricane Katrina (which had a substantial impact on the firm’s founding New Orleans office), the Great Recession, and the Coronavirus pandemic.
“When I joined the firm in 1993, McGlinchey was a Louisiana powerhouse with ‘wings’ in Houston and Jackson. At that time, firms looked at growth based on geography. In the early 2000s, emerging technology afforded us the opportunity to start thinking about growth based the location of talent,” Rudy said. “Since that time, we’ve expanded our footprint, offices, and talent to serve our clients. We’ve opened offices based on our ability to work on an alternative fee basis, which was very innovative at that time. These expansions allowed us to develop a client service model known as The McGlinchey Way, which featured the creation of client service teams, afforded multiple levels of supervision, and offered automated documentation systems to maintain consistency and quality control for our clients.
“We exist to solve clients’ problems, so that’s priority #1. But to keep that as priority #1 you have to have a great team, a cohesive organization, and strong systems in place. We’ve worked hard to build all those things, and I’m excited about the next chapter of the firm’s evolution.”