| Headquarters | Omaha, Nebraska |
|---|---|
| No. of offices | 19 |
| No. of attorneys | 550 |
| No. of employees | 1,000 |
| Major practice areas | Corporate law, public finance, banking, real estate |
| Key people |
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| Date founded | 1965 |
| Founders |
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| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
| Website | KutakRock.com |
Kutak Rock LLP is an American law firm, founded in 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska. As of January 2021, [update] it had more than 550 attorneys in 19 offices across the United States. [1]
The firm was founded in Omaha in 1965 by Robert J. Kutak, Harold Rock, and William G. Campbell. [2] After 1972 the firm pursued an aggressive expansion strategy, first by absorbing two other Omaha firms and then by adding offices in other cities, beginning in 1977 with offices in Denver and Washington, D.C. By 1978 the firm, with its main concentration in public finance law, was reported to be the fastest growing law firm in the United States. [3]
Federal legislation in 1968 required American industry and business to commit to substantial expenditures over the next two decades to address the water and air pollution abatement requirements outlined in that legislation. In conjunction with its Wall Street investment banking clients, Kutak Rock pioneered the use of municipal debt backed solely by the relevant corporate credit (a form of transaction at that time known as industrial development revenue bond financing) to finance tens of billions of dollars of these requirements, thus establishing the foundation of the broad-ranging corporate and governmental finance practice that exists today in all of the firm's offices. The firm's national corporate, real estate, and litigation practices also began during this period. [2]
Robert Kutak, a founder of the firm, chaired the American Bar Association commission which developed the new Model Rules of Professional Conduct and rewrote ethical standards for lawyers; the ABA offers a legal education award named after him. [4] He was also instrumental in purchasing and preserving the Omaha National Bank Building for use as the firm's main office. He died of a heart attack in 1983, at age 50. [5]