Robert Ambrogi Blog
One of the top ALM editors laid off earlier this month, David Hechler, who was the executive editor of ALM’s Corporate Counsel magazine, has been named editor-in-chief of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel.
Hechler, who spent more than 15 years with ALM, also served as an associate editor of another of its flagship publications, The National Law Journal. In fact — full disclosure — I hired Hechler back when I was NLJ editor-in-chief.
During his tenure at Corporate Counsel, he initiated surveys on legal process outsourcing and legal operations professionals, and he managed various high-profile projects such as the Best Legal Departments awards. His work has earned several awards, including the Stephen Barr Award, issued by the American Society of Business Publication Editors for individual feature writing; American Business Media’s Jesse Neal Award for Best Single Article; and the National Gold Award for Impact/Investigative work, issued by the American Society of Business Publication Editors.
“We are delighted to welcome David, one of the legal industry’s leading and most respected journalists, to Law Business Media and Metropolitan Corporate Counsel,” said Kristin Calve, co-founder and president of Law Business Media and publisher of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel. “His editorial acumen, his deep knowledge of the business of law, and his insights into the operation of sophisticated corporate law departments make him a perfect fit. We look forward to working together.”
Hechler is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, with degrees from Brown University and Grinnell College. He is also the author of two books: In Good Hands, which traces the importance of safe day care through the story of one family day care that parents loved even after two babies died, and The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War, the first book by an investigative reporter to explain the unique challenges these cases present to the legal system.