PROVIDENCE – Management has been an area of growth and education for Mason J. Waring over the years. Now, he’ll put that growth to use in overseeing one of the nation’s top public interest law firms.
Waring was recently named the new managing partner for Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick Ltd. He’ll help oversee operations of the 300-person firm, which includes 40 attorneys working locally.
According to his bio on the firm’s website, Waring previously worked for the R.I. Department of Administration’s Division of Legal Services and the Governor’s Office of Legal Services. He also is a member of YPO Boston, the Rhode Island Bar Association, Rhode Island Association for Justice and the American Association for Justice.
Waring’s areas of practice at CCK include health insurance, individual long-term disability and insurance disputes, according to his bio. He also has bar admissions in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Becoming partner at CCK and leading an "amazing team" doing strong work for people is a "dream job," Waring told Providence Business News of his new role at CCK, which was founded 25 years ago by J. Scott Kilpatrick and Robert V. Chisholm.
“If I could sketch out my perfect role, I’m in it,” Waring said. He said moving forward that he wants CCK to be firmly set up for success over the next quarter century ensuring the firm has the business support in place to do that.
Regarding potential future growth, Waring says he wants CCK to be “right-sized” for its business so that the firm has the right number of people to give clients the best services possible. He said CCK added employees to its team last year and plans to “grow along” with any future expanded reach.
Waring also said he wants the firm to expand its reach to ensure CCK can help more people. Plus, he wants to help CCK figure out how artificial intelligence will factor into the firm’s future growth. He said the firm’s goal is to determine how it uses the “new powerful AI tools” to ethically serve clients.
“AI is just going to be everywhere,” he said. “Microsoft [Corp.] is going to incorporate it into its products. There are going to be custom-built applications for companies, but real questions have to be answered regarding client-confidential information and decision-making and we need to be really thoughtful about how we do it. We have a special responsibility to our clients … and we have to uphold those.”
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
