Six months into her tenure as Cranfill Sumner LLP’s first chief executive officer, April Bogard Pinder, Esq., is quietly reshaping what leadership can look like inside a modern law firm.
Selected after a lengthy search and stepping into a newly created role focused on business strategy rather than legal strategy, she stands out among the small but growing number of women serving as CEOs of U.S. law firms as one of the first non-partner CEOs in the Southeast. Her appointment in October 2025 signaled more than a title change—it marked an inflection point in how the firm intends to compete, grow, and serve clients in a rapidly evolving legal marketplace.
When reflecting on the positions she accepted, April Bogard Pinder, Esq., jokingly referred to them all as “accidental.” Whether recalling her legal background or her time as risk manager for U.S. Bank, her career path was not clearly planned—but ironically, her positions require meticulousness and high-stakes decision-making.
A Unique Opportunity
The descendant of a long line of farmers in Indiana, Pinder’s family was historically cynical toward the legal profession. She was initially encouraged to pursue a career in medicine with the hopes of becoming a cardiologist, but her father’s sudden passing while she was in college brought her to a fork in the road.
“I couldn’t see myself in medicine or healthcare anymore and started getting emotional after a psychology class,” Pinder recalled. “One of my professors approached me and encouraged me to pursue law, since I was naturally loving it. He was sympathetic about my situation but reminded me it was time to plan my own life, despite my dad’s feelings toward lawyers.”
After earning her Master of Science in biology from Purdue University, she enrolled in Indiana University Law School, where she admitted she “fell in love with the law” and expected to excel by marrying her legal work and pharmacology.
Her concurrent work at Fifth Third Bank in Indianapolis during her law school days put her in a unique position to learn the intricacies of finance and banking. There, she was exposed to high-level transactions and mergers and acquisitions of other banks—experiences that would eventually shape her business, risk and leadership philosophies.
“This was also beyond my scope of responsibilities,” she said, “but the bank was extremely encouraging and exposed me to major deals regarding finance and strategy that no textbook ever could have taught.”
Early Withdrawal From Banking
Though Pinder was not yet 40 years old, she had earned her J.D. from Indiana University Law School and still felt the law calling to her. Following two years as a judicial law clerk for the State of Indiana and as a volunteer guardian ad litem, she opened herself to new opportunities. In 2010, she passed the bar in Kentucky and joined a law firm focused on consumer protection law and regulatory enforcement in financial services, as counsel and director of compliance. This foundation provided unique, systems-informed perspectives on the evolving demands of legal service delivery.
U.S. Bank later recruited her in 2014 as a director in its risk management department, where she ascended its corporate ladder over the next decade as a senior executive. Leading multimillion‑dollar modernization efforts, operational risk governance, and the integration of digital solutions and AI into scalable systems, her experience at U.S. Bank now informs Pinder’s approach to operational excellence, client‑focused innovation, and change management in a highly regulated environment.
“There were so many crises and opportunities for us, whether due to governmental policies or some sort of financial realignment,” Pinder said. “Because of that, I spent considerable time heading up the digital services division of U.S. Bank.”
She created the digital office and learned how to craft mobile- and digital-first strategies for what had traditionally been a brick-and-mortar institution. This led to operations management and wearing several hats. U.S. Bank had transitioned in and out of the CEO model between 2017 and 2025, and Pinder paused again and consulted mentors for guidance on the next step of what was already a successful career.
“I had been the accidental banker, accidental risk manager and accidental lawyer and acquired all these tools that helped me transform businesses with purpose and impact,” she said. “I wanted to make a move and knew the right opportunity would present itself.”
A Renowned Civil Law Firm Recalibrates Its Approach
Cranfill Sumner is a multi-disciplinary law firm that was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1992 by civil trial advocates Paul Cranfill, Robert “Bob” Sumner and Dan Hartzog. They had illustrious careers dating back to the late 1960s and early 1970s and had created a firm that served clients on both sides of the aisle. Under their leadership, the firm hired dozens of lawyers—many of whom have been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America®—and expanded with a second office in Charlotte.
Cranfill retired from partnership in 2010 and Sumner retired from partnership in 2012; both served in an of counsel role through 2014. For the next decade, the firm extended its record of success with high-value jury resolutions and legal accolades, but also began exploring new leadership structures in the fourth quarter of 2022.
After considering several models, the firm committed to a rubric based on a CEO and executive committee, headed by five of the firm’s equity partners, with an executive chair. With the height of the COVID pandemic in the rearview mirror, the need for greater fiscal responsibility and emerging technologies calling for the modernization of the firm and the legal profession, Cranfill Sumner looked outside its offices for a CEO to run the law firm’s business operations.
An Industry Ripe for Change
Calibrate, an executive placement firm, had been in touch with Pinder and put her name forward in Cranfill Sumner’s search. Harkening back to her philosophy of saying “yes” to new opportunities, Pinder was excited at the prospect of reentering the legal profession. Approximately 130 candidates were considered, and after a lengthy interview process, Pinder was selected as CEO in October 2025.
“Cranfill Sumner has a reputation and culture of integrity, which was really important to me and aligned with my own personal and professional values,” she said. “The legal industry is ripe for the same change that banking went through, so the timing worked for me and the firm.”
With Pinder’s arrival, the firm moved from a traditional management committee model to a more strategically focused executive committee approach to strengthen alignment across four offices (including locations in Wilmington, N.C., and Washington, D.C.) and support long-term growth.
“My understanding was that the search was completely gender- and colorblind,” she said. “They weren’t seeking a lawyer, per se, but someone who understood the business of law and someone who had the totality of all they were seeking on the resume. All those prior accidental roles led to the most exciting one of all.”
A New Management Style
As CEO, Pinder had to establish that she was not hired to “clear house,” which was one of the more captivating characteristics of the position. The legal strategy and management of the firm’s 80-plus lawyers would be handled by the executive committee, while she would assess the efficiencies of the departments she oversaw. This included more than 100 staffers from information technology, human resources, and finance; also reporting to Pinder is a chief strategy officer who oversees business development, marketing, communications, events, and artificial intelligence and innovation.
“If you don’t practice law here,” Pinder joked, “you report to me.”
With this clear distinction between business operations and legal strategy, and the cohesion between herself and the executive committee, Pinder could assimilate quickly and be her genuine self—someone who is collaborative and honest.
“A grounded, clear, human approach is the way to go here,” she said, reflecting on her first six months as CEO. “Most conflicts that happen get co-mingled between relationship conflict and task conflict. It all boils down to a failure to communicate. Tackling that head-on is important in preventing relationship conflict, particularly when attorneys naturally enjoy task conflict.
“I live by the three ‘C’s—curiosity, consistency and communication. If I had to add a fourth ‘C,’ it’d be calm, because crazy is contagious, but so is calm. When eyes are on you, and you get excited about something, everyone else takes their cues from you. If you’re calm and measured, it allows people the space to process.”
A Proactive Approach to Clients
Pinder noted that in her experience, the legal profession is reactive when it comes to thought leadership. She and the executive leadership are aligned in their belief in cultivating client relationships before the firm is needed, rather than after a crisis has occurred.
She noted how Elder Law Partner Kara Gansmann from the firm’s Wilmington office is drafting an estate planning workbook that the firm intends to publish.
“Historically, an individual or organization hires a lawyer after something has happened,” she said. “We want to be more proactive with our clients. In employment law, for example, we don’t want someone to come to us after a worker has filed an EEOC complaint. We want to help produce a great employee handbook to prevent and reduce lawsuits. This is an approach we can use firm-wide to provide even greater value to clients.”
Setting a Precedent for the Business of Law
Pinder’s announcement as Cranfill Sumner’s CEO is the latest in an evolving trend of law firms replacing traditional managing partner governance with corporate-style executive leadership.
Greenberg Traurig has long used a CEO structure, with Cesar Alvarez serving as CEO for 13 years while the firm expanded globally; Brian Duffy has succeeded him in the role since 2016. Rachel Proffitt began her tenure as CEO of Cooley LLP in 2024. Also in 2024, Dentons, the world’s largest law firm by headcount, elected Kate Barton, a longtime EY executive and non-lawyer, as its global CEO.
Pinder’s appointment is notable as one of the first non-partner-led firms in the Southeast. Looking forward, she said she believes the expansion of non-lawyer C-suite roles will transcend Big Law to regional firms like hers.
“With the generational talent shift in succession planning on the horizon and all of the technology emerging along with AI, you need someone focused on driving your strategic priorities, and providing concise reporting and aligning your operating model and people,” she said.
“In the next 12 to 18 months, you’ll see far more firms lean into this model,” she added. “They’ll see the success and realize it’s a good strategy. Once you get past being a small business—and in law firms’ terms, that’s about five to 10 lawyers—it may become a necessity.”
