Robert Castellano

Chief Operating Officer

Keeps the firm running on time, on budget, and without drama.

“A promise to a client is a logistics problem. I make sure we can keep it.”

Email: [email protected]
Direct line: +1 (312) 555-0230
Office: Chicago
With the firm since: 2020

Robert's story

Rob grew up in Bridgeport, the son of a union electrician and a school secretary, and spent his twenties as a logistics officer in the U.S. Army, including two deployments where his job was making sure 4,000 people had what they needed every single day. He says law firms are easier, but only slightly.

After leaving the Army he earned an MBA at Kellogg and ran operations for a regional hospital network before Elena Marsh recruited him in 2020 with the pitch that a law firm is a hospital where everyone argues. He has run the firm's finance, technology, people, and facilities ever since.

His proudest project was the 2022 move to the firm's current offices on West Lake Street, which he delivered on a Friday night so that not a single client meeting was cancelled. He also built the firm's client portal programme, which is why he insists every feature actually works before anyone is allowed to show it to a client.

Rob lives in Bridgeport in the house he grew up in, with his wife Teresa and their dog Sarge. He is a volunteer with the Chicago chapter of Team Rubicon and spends most of his vacation days on disaster-relief deployments.

Off duty

When Robert isn't at the office

Restoring a 1972 Chevrolet C10

Bought it as a rust bucket in 2016 and has rebuilt the engine, the bed, and most of the cab. It runs. It does not, yet, have working heat.

Woodworking

Builds Shaker-style furniture in his garage and made every conference-room table in the firm's offices. He will not make one for your home, no matter how nicely you ask.

Military history

Reads a book a week, mostly about logistics, which he admits is a niche interest. He has visited every major Civil War battlefield east of the Mississippi with Teresa, who has been very patient.

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