Robert Connolly’s 15-year run as general counsel of BlackRock is over. Read all about him from when he was feted by the Directors Roundtable in 2010.
Seems like something interesting is going on behind the scenes:
Circumstances surrounding his exit were unclear. Connolly’s departure is abrupt, according to people familiar with the matter, who said that internal conflicts factored into the decision.
What’s that all about?
Call us conspiracy theorists, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it had something to do with this other quote from the article:
Matthew Mallow, a former partner at Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, is now serving as interim general counsel, she said. Mallow joined BlackRock as a senior adviser in 2010, she said.
Mallow did a lot of capital markets work as outside counsel for BlackRock prior to his retirement, including the company’s 1999 IPO.
What do you think? Was Mallow involved? Was the writing on the wall when a “senior [legal] advisor” was brought in a year and a half ago? What’s next for Connolly? Will he go back to Debevoise, where started out as an associate, or will he end up at one of the company’s other go-to firms (probably not Skadden, but maybe Simpson Thacher?)
