Brockstedt Mandalas Federico Partner Chase T. Brockstedt was featured in Law.com’s “How I Made Practice Group Chair” series. He discussed his path to leading the firm’s injury litigation department and shared advice for attorneys who hope to lead a practice group.
Chase serves as lead partner of BMF’s injury litigation department, and is also co-chair of the firm’s mass tort and class action practice and its contingency fee group. He told Law.com that he began his career handling insurance defense work, which taught him how carriers, adjusters, and defense lawyers evaluate cases and weigh risk and uses that knowledge still today.
Early on in his career, he took on a nursing home neglect case that resulted in a $13 million verdict, the largest nursing home verdict in Delaware, and the largest injury verdict in Sussex County history. His first major foray into complex litigation came in a pediatrician sexual abuse case. Chase developed the case’s primary legal theory, negligent credentialing, and the case ultimately settled for $123.5 million. He said that case changed the direction of his career, and he has since helped build BMF’s mass tort and class action practice.
Chase described what leading a contingency fee practice involves: careful case selection, financial discipline, and developing the lawyers and staff who do the work every day. He emphasized succession planning, including giving younger lawyers meaningful responsibility before they feel completely ready. He also stressed keeping the client experience at the center of the practice.
“Do not confuse leadership with control. A good practice leader is not the person who insists on making every decision. A good leader builds judgment in others, creates clear standards, and helps people grow into roles they may not have imagined for themselves,” Chase told Law.com.
Read the full article here: https://www.law.com/2026/09/28/how-i-made-practice-group-chair-do-not-confuse-leadership-with-control-says-chase-brockstedt-of-brockstedt-mandalas-federico/