Arnold & Porter was founded in 1946 by Thurman Arnold and Abe Fortas, and was originally known as Arnold & Fortas. Paul Porter joined the firm a year later, becoming a name partner.
History
The original firm was founded as Arnold & Fortas in 1946 by New Deal veterans Thurman Arnold, a former Yale Law School professor and U.S. Court of Appeals judge on the D.C. Circuit, and Abe Fortas, another former Yale Law School professor who later became a Supreme Court Justice.[6] In 1947, Paul A. Porter, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, joined the firm and it was renamed as Arnold, Fortas & Porter. In 1965, Abe Fortas' name was dropped from the firm's name, after his ascension to the Supreme Court, as is customary.[7] Arnold & Porter later refused to re-admit its founder to the firm, following Fortis'[8] 1969 resignation from the Supreme Court.[9]
In November 2016, Arnold & Porter announced a merger with New York-based firm Kaye Scholer, forming Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, with approximately 1,000 attorneys across 14 offices. The merger took effect on January 1, 2017.[10] In July 2025, the firm announced the launch of a new office in Seattle, bringing its tally of U.S.- based offices to 11.[11]
In February 2018, The National Law Journal reported that the newly combined "firm has quietly reversed its post-merger branding efforts" and "scrubbed nearly all mention of Kaye Scholer from its public image, changing its brand name, email addresses and web domain", while retaining the legal entity name in full.[12] In September 2020, Arnold & Porter announced that it will shut down its Frankfurt office by the end of March 2021.[13]
In 2024, Arnold & Porter reported a 5% increase in revenue, reaching $1.19 billion. Profits per equity partner rose to $1.63 million, and revenue per lawyer increased by 6.5% to $1.24 million.[15]
In 1963, Abe Fortas of Arnold, Fortas & Porter, was appointed by the Supreme Court to represent Clarence Gideon in the landmark case of Gideon v. Wainwright.[16]Abe Krash and John Hart Ely worked with Fortas on Gideon. This led to the Supreme Court upholding the right to counsel in felony prosecutions and requiring states to provide counsel to defendants unable to afford their own.
In 2020, Arnold & Porter attorneys helped secure a $14 million judgment for 12 Black Lives Matter protesters who were victims of police brutality in Colorado.[22] The matter took 18 months to settle and required 14,000-plus lawyer hours.[23]
Attorneys with the firm assisted the family of Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper in obtaining the first posthumous presidential pardon in U.S. history, and represented Ukrainian mail order bride Nataliya Fox against international marriage broker Encounters International in a landmark case that helped to establish the rights of such women.[24]
The firm is co-counsel with the DC Prisoners' Project of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which represents prisoners at ADX Florence who allege deficiencies in psychiatric evaluation and care in Cunningham v. Federal Bureau of Prisons.[25]
Offices
Thurman Arnold Building is the former location of Arnold & Porter's offices in Washington, D.C. The firm relocated to 601 Mass. Ave NW in 2015.
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