This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
---|---|
No. of offices | 16 |
No. of attorneys | approximately 1800 |
No. of employees | approximately 2800 |
Major practice areas | General practice |
Key people | Robert S. Insolia (Chairman) Mark Bettencourt (Managing Partner) |
Revenue | $1.97 billion USD (2021) [1] |
Profit per equity partner | $3.69 million USD (2021) [2] |
Date founded | 1912 |
Founders | Robert Goodwin and Joseph Procter |
Company type | Limited liability partnership |
Website | goodwinlaw.com |
Goodwin Procter LLP is an American multinational law firm. It is one of the largest law firms in the world as measured by revenue and consists of more than 1,800 lawyers across offices in Boston, Cambridge, Frankfurt, Munich, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, New York City, Paris, Philadelphia, Santa Monica, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. [3] Goodwin focuses on complex transactional work, high-stakes litigation and advisory services in matters involving financial institutions, intellectual property, private equity, real estate capital markets, securities litigation, white collar defense, technology and life sciences.
Goodwin currently has over 2,800 employees worldwide, representing a nearly 30% increase in lawyers and staff since January 2021, and more than a 60% increase overall since 2017. [4] This growth has been mirrored by the firm's rising revenues, which increased from $1.33 billion in 2019 to $1.49 billion in 2020, and reaching $1.97 billion in 2021. [5] Between 2010 and 2021, Goodwin's annual revenue nearly tripled. [6] In January 2023, Goodwin laid off five percent of its total workforce, quoting a lack of "current and projected demand." [7]
In 1912, lawyers and former Harvard classmates Robert Eliot Goodwin and Joseph Osborne Procter, Jr. ran into each other on the street and decided to start their own law firm, Goodwin & Procter, which opened its offices on July 1 that year at 84 State Street in Boston. That winter, Robert Goodwin and Amos Taylor represented Mary Newell against the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company for the sum of $110,400 resulting from the April 15, 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic. [8] Another case taken on in the firm's early days stemmed from the infamous pyramid scheme orchestrated in Boston by Charles Ponzi. After the scheme was exposed as fraud, Robert Goodwin served as the bankruptcy referee for Middlesex County amid thousands of recovery claims in the bankruptcy courts. [9] [ citation needed ] When the United States joined the allied cause in World War I in 1917, Robert Goodwin joined the country's vanguard deployment in France, eventually rising to the rank of colonel and assuming command of the 101st Field Artillery. After the campaign, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. [10] [ citation needed ] Not long after, Samuel Hoar V, a litigator, was hired, followed by Fred Tarbell Field, a well-respected tax lawyer who was a friend of Procter's, and the firm became known as Goodwin, Procter, Field & Hoar. In early 1929, Field was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (and would later become its Chief Justice), and the firm was renamed Goodwin, Procter & Hoar, a name it would retain for the next 72 years. The Depression years proved pivotal for the firm's future diversification and growth. Liquidation cases, including the unwinding of the Boston Continental Bank, provided a surge of business, [11] as did the proliferation of federal agencies and regulations brought on by the New Deal. [12] Around the same time, Greater Boston's manufacturing and maritime industries faded and the financial management industry expanded, presenting new opportunities for work on highly complex financial transactions.
Goodwin Procter also undertook matters involving public service and public policy, including public investigations of corruption and malfeasance, as well as cases with constitutional overtones. When the Massachusetts governor pardoned New England Mafia boss Raymond Patriarca in 1938, the resulting public furor led the Legislature to establish a commission to investigate the state's pardon and parole procedures. Sam Hoar, with Don Hurley as his lieutenant, headed the commission, whose resulting investigation led to reform of the pardon laws and impeachment of a member of the Governor's Council. [13] More than 70 years later, the Commonwealth would once again call on Goodwin Procter lawyers to examine alleged corruption in the state's parole office. [14]
After World War II, partners Leonard Wheeler and Frank Wallis played instrumental roles in the historic Nuremberg Trials, presenting much of the Americans' case against the Nazis. [15] [16] "It was a most amazing and thrilling experience," recalled Wallis. "I was speaking to the world - not only the world of today but the world of future generations." [17] Post-war practice would not be business as usual as the firm reached a generational turning point, with Robert Goodwin entering semi-retirement and Sam Hoar's passing in 1952. [18] (Joe Procter had died earlier in 1932.) [19] Goodwin formally retired in 1963, ending a 60-year legal career; he died in 1971. [20]
In 1960, tax partners Allan Higgins and Charlie Post helped draft and secure passage of the Real Estate Investment Trust Act, [21] which was hailed as a significant catalyst for real estate development across the country. [22] In 1963, partner Don Hurley played a role in conceiving, drafting and securing passage of an amendment to the Bank Holding Company Act exempting parent companies of single banks and non-banking subsidiaries from federal restrictions on commercial banks. [23]
In 1969, after more than a half-century in the India Building at 84 State Street, the firm moved to a new office tower at 28 State, where it would remain for 16 years before moving to Exchange Place at 53 State Street in 1985. [24] To celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1987, the firm made a donation of $1 million to the City of Boston to fund initiatives in public education. The donation, called SEED (Support for Early Educational Development), was made up entirely of individual contributions by the firm's partners. [25] [26]
With 280 lawyers, Goodwin Procter entered the 1990s as the “largest law firm under one roof in the country,” according to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. [27] The firm made its first foray outside Boston in 1994 with an office in Washington, D.C., followed by one in New York in 1997. The acquisition of 27 lawyers from a northern New Jersey firm and 13 litigators from a New York products liability shop bolstered the firm's IP and litigation practices in New York. [28]
In 1998, Regina Pisa became the first woman to be named chairman and Managing Partner of an AmLaw 100 firm. [29] Under Pisa's leadership, Goodwin grew from 300 lawyers primarily in Boston to more than 900 lawyers serving clients from eight locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. In 2004, the firm merged with the Washington, D.C.-based litigation and regulatory mid-sized firm Shea & Gardner. [30] The following year over 60 attorneys from Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault joined Goodwin Procter as Testa Hurwitz dissolved, [31] a move the Boston Globe called possibly "the biggest coup in Boston legal history." [32] Goodwin first established its West Coast presence in 2006, opening offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. [33] It launched its Silicon Valley presence in 2007. [34] The firm went global in 2008 with offices in London (Goodwin's first European location) and Hong Kong.
At its century mark in 2012, Goodwin had 850 lawyers and another 720 professional staff serving clients from offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. As part of its centennial celebrations, the firm started its Annual Days of Service tradition, during which employees in each office give back to their communities. In 2015, Goodwin announced the opening of an office in Frankfurt, Germany. [35] In April 2016, Goodwin opened its third European office in Paris, France. [36] Later that year, the firm moved its Boston home to 100 Northern Avenue in the city's Seaport District after more than 100 years at the corner of State and Congress Streets. Two years later, Goodwin announced a significant expansion of its European Private Equity and Private Investment Funds practices with a group comprising the bulk of the market-leading and former SJ Berwin investment funds team. [37] In 2019, Goodwin opened new offices in Santa Monica, Luxembourg and Cambridge. [38] [39] [40] In April 2022, Goodwin continued expanding its European operations by opening a second German office in Munich. [41] Goodwin's Singapore office, opened in October 2022, marked the firm's second location in Asia. [42]
Goodwin currently ranks 17th on the American Lawyer’s annual ranking of U.S. law firms by gross revenue, [45] and its lawyers and practice groups are consistently recognized by Chambers, [46] U.S. News & World Report [47] and Legal 500. [48]
King & Spalding LLP is an American multinational corporate law firm that is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with offices located in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It has over 1,300 lawyers in 23 offices globally. It is Am Law 100, Global 30, and white-shoe firm.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, typically shortened to Skadden, is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The company is known for its work on company mergers and takeovers.
Fidelity Investments, formerly known as Fidelity Management & Research (FMR), is an American multinational financial services corporation based in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1946, the company is one of the largest asset managers in the world, with $4.9 trillion in assets under management, and, as of December 2023, $12.6 trillion in assets under administration. Fidelity Investments operates a brokerage firm, manages a large family of mutual funds, provides fund distribution and investment advice, retirement services, index funds, wealth management, securities execution and clearance, asset custody, and life insurance.
Samuel Hoar was a United States lawyer and politician. A member of a prominent political family in Massachusetts, he was a leading 19th century lawyer of that state. He was associated with the Federalist Party until its decline after the War of 1812. Over his career, Hoar developed a reputation as a prominent Massachusetts anti-slavery politician and spokesperson. He became a leading member of the Massachusetts Whig Party, a leading and founding member of the Massachusetts Free Soil Party, and a founding member and chair of the committee that organized the founding convention for the Massachusetts Republican Party in 1854.
Linklaters LLP is a British multinational law firm, headquartered in London, England. Founded in 1838, it is one of the five prestigious "Magic Circle" law firms known for their corporate and financial expertise. It currently employs over 3100 lawyers across 31 offices in 21 countries.
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other matters in which legal advice and other assistance are sought.
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is a white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions and private equity, with over 1,000 attorneys in 11 offices worldwide.
Landmark is a commercial complex owned by Hongkong Land in Central, Hong Kong. It consists of three office towers: Gloucester Tower, Edinburgh Tower and York House. Its retail podium, Landmark Atrium, forms the core component of the LANDMARK shopping mall.
Norton Rose Fulbright (NRF) is a British-American business law firm. It is the thirteenth-largest by headcount and 21st by revenue, with revenues of more than $2 billion. The law firm serves across a range of sectors — including consumer markets, energy, infrastructure and resources, financial institutions, life sciences and healthcare, technology and transport.
Proskauer Rose LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in twelve offices worldwide.
Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,300 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. It was established in 1866 and its headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. Among its alumni are former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as Hale & Dorr and WilmerHale, is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is co-headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Boston. It was formed in 2004 through the merger of the Boston-based firm Hale and Dorr and the Washington-based, firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, and employs more than 1,000 attorneys worldwide.
Dechert LLP is a multinational American law firm of more than 900 lawyers with practices in corporate and securities, complex litigation, finance and real estate, financial services, asset management, and private equity. In 2021, the firm raised revenues by 25%, with a total of $1.3 billion. On Law.com's 2022 Global 200 survey, Dechert ranked as the 41st highest grossing law firm in the world.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm also has offices in Washington, D.C., London, Frankfurt, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium; it has more than 500 attorneys worldwide.
Irwin Mitchell is a full service law firm in the United Kingdom, established in Sheffield in 1912. The firm offers legal and wealth management services from its 17 offices, and employs more than 3,000 people.
Bingham McCutchen LLP was a global law firm with approximately 850 attorneys in nine US offices and five international offices. It ceased operations in late 2015, when several hundred of its partners and associate lawyers left the firm to join Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis.
Clyde & Co is a global law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The firm is one of the top 10 largest law firms in the City of London and has the largest dispute resolution practice of any UK law firm. It employs 2,600 legal professionals and more than 5,000 total staff. In 2022–23, Clyde & Co's revenue was £788.6 million.
Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault was a Boston-based law firm of approximately 400 attorneys at its peak in 2002 with revenues approaching $450 million. It dissolved in 2005 amid partner departures and the burst of the dot-com bubble.
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is an international commercial law firm headquartered in Hong Kong. It is the largest international law firm in Asia-Pacific. It has thirty offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East.
DWF is a global legal business, headquartered in London, England, with 31 offices across the world. In March 2019, DWF was listed on the London Stock Exchange. With a £366m valuation and offer size of £95m, DWF became the UK's largest listed law firm.
The firm saw its revenue jump from $1.49 billion in 2020 to $1.97 billion in 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The firm crossed the $3 million mark for PEP for the first time.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The firm saw its revenue jump from $1.49 billion in 2020 to $1.97 billion in 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)