Steve’s breakdown: Morgan Lewis is planning to make some waves with their new CMO so go make friends. And BTW, give a call to Latham because it seem they have some changes in marketing too.

PHILADELPHIA, PA: Morgan Lewis & Bockius has hired Latham & Watkins’ chief marketing officer, Despina Kartson, to fill the same role at its firm, two sources told the Philadelphia Business Journal.

A Morgan Lewis spokeswoman would not confirm the addition of Karston but two sources said the New York-based marketing professional will start at the firm later this month.

The CMO position at Morgan Lewis had been vacant since last fall, when Michael Baltes left to take a similar position at Post & Schell.

A longtime legal marketer who asked not to be identified told me that Karston is a brand name in the New York legal marketing community and a big pickup for Morgan Lewis.

“Everyone knows her,” the source said. “She was head of the Law Marketing Association there. If you look at the AmLaw 100 chart, Morgan Lewis is high but not as high as Latham. This is not a slight on anyone they’ve had but the last two people they hired came from Wharton and [650-lawyer New York-based Proskauer Rose]. This is the first time they’ve looked upwards on that chart to hire someone. And it’s the first time Morgan Lewis has selected someone already known as a major league marketer.”

Morgan Lewis was ranked 13th on the 2012 AmLaw 100, a list of the 100 highest-grossing law firms in the country. Latham was ranked fourth.

The American Lawyer offered an in-depth look at Kartson here.

Morgan Lewis has more than 1,400 lawyers, including almost 300 in its Philadelphia headquarters. It has offices of almost equal size in New York and Washington.

Source: Philadelphia Business Journal