An older white man wearing a suit and red tie stares at the camera in front of a gray background.

Robert J. Couture

Fellow

Senior Research Fellow, HLS Center on the Legal Profession

Bob is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on the Legal Profession and the former the Executive Director of McGuireWoods LLP, an AmLaw 50 firm. Bob concentrates primarily on law firm strategy and operationalizing strategic plans. His current research is focused on the impact the Big 4 accounting firms are having on the legal industry, including the approaches and actions large law firms are taking to compete with the Big 4 networks. In 2017, Bob wrote the lead story in The Practice entitled “Postrecession Strategies: Legal market segmentation as the foundation for successful strategic planning.”, and the 2021 article in The Practice entitled “The Global 100 Responds to the Big 4”.

Bob was formerly the Senior VP for Novell Worldwide Services (formerly Cambridge Technology Partners), Senior VP and General Manager of Xerox Professional Services, and served as the Senior VP of Strategy for Xerox’s services business. He also held the position of VP for IBM Global Services worldwide network consulting practice. He holds a BS from Michigan State University and a Master of Management from The University of Michigan Rackham School of Graduate Studies.