Running the office functions of a major law firm is hard. Building an office from the ground up is harder. David C. Sweet has done both.
The director of administration at Pannone Lopes Devereaux & West in Providence came on board in 2006 to design and implement all the human resources policies for the firm that opened that year. He also worked with contractors, architects and design firms to manage the build-out of the company’s 28,000-square-foot offices.
Today Sweet, 39, oversees hiring, supervising and training of staff and paralegals at this 46-employee firm. He also manages employee benefits, and supervises accounting and technology functions. At the office, he’s known as the “right hand” for the managing partner and is credited with helping the firm earn Providence Business News’ Best Places to Work honors three years running.
“David can be counted on and ‘at the ready’ to solve the newest challenge, help the newest employee and work through whatever issue arises with honesty, politeness and openness,” wrote Clare Eckert, a marketing consultant and friend who works with Sweet.
Sweet received his first taste of management working in the kitchen of the former Jewish Home for the Aged in Providence. Sweet says the director of food-service operations, Muriel Glance, “literally plucked me out of the kitchen” after recognizing his keen sense of organization. A bewildered Sweet landed in the office and quickly found an affinity for management and soon became a supervisor.
The experience would pay off. After a brief stint at Tillinghast Collins & Graham as circulation coordinator, Sweet shifted to what became Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels. He climbed the ranks quickly, becoming office manager in 2000.
Along the way he found time to establish the real estate investment company, Real Property Investments. •
