In November, Kate Barton ’87 was named CEO of Dentons, the world’s largest global law firm. This step in her career follows nearly forty years working at Ernst & Young (EY), where she most recently served as its global vice chair of tax, law, and people advisory services, and as a member of its Global Executive Board.
Her experience overseeing billions of dollars in business across 150 countries and leading EY’s global tax practice to the highest position of brand and market share equipped her for her new role. With the goal of growing the already enormous 2,220-partner global firm, she plans to gain buy-in from its top revenue-generating lawyers.
“You have to have a good team or you can’t do your job,” Barton told BC Law Magazine in 2015. She found her way to EY through a summer internship during law school and continued working there after graduation. At the time, Barton was one of a few women in the Boston office. She went on to become its first woman tax partner. She was also the first tax managing partner for a geographical region (New England) and the only woman vice chair for tax services among the “big four” accounting firms.
Now, at Dentons, Barton seeks to implement best practices she has learned from her career. “I like to use my influence as opposed to my authority,” she said in a recent interview with Bloomberg Law. “I like to get things done, but I like to do them in a way that brings everyone along.”