 | |
| Headquarters | Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
|---|---|
| No. of offices | 17 [1] |
| No. of attorneys | 1,000 [2] |
| Key people | Paul M. Schmidt Chairman [3] |
| Revenue | $732 million (2020) [4] |
| Date founded | 1916 |
| Founder | Newton D. Baker, [5] Joseph C. Hostetler, [6] Thomas L. Sidlo [7] |
| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
| Website | www.bakerlaw.com |
BakerHostetler is an American law firm founded in 1916. One of the firm's founders, Newton D. Baker, was U.S. Secretary of War during World War I, and former Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
In 2019 [update] , the firm was ranked the 73rd-largest law firm in the world. [8] BakerHostetler is a multidisciplinary firm with six core practice groups—Business, Digital Assets and Data Management, Intellectual Property, Labor and Employment, Litigation, and Tax. In a 2020 survey by BTI Consulting Group, BakerHostetler was ranked among the top 30 firms considered to be the “Elite Member of the Client Service A-Team”, in terms of providing superior client satisfaction. [9]
In 2010, BakerHostetler represented Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE: DNR), a member of the S&P 500, in a merger valued at $4.5 billion with Encore Acquisition Co. (NYSE: EAC). The transaction created one of the largest oil-focused independent exploration and production companies in North America. As a result of this and other similar deals, BakerHostetler was ranked among the top 10 U.S. law firms for merger and acquisition deals in the oil, gas, and oilfield service industries for the period January 2009-First Quarter 2010 per The Deal magazine. The firm is generally known for counseling and representing clients in the hospitality, healthcare, financial services, media, energy, sports, and technology fields. [10]
In 2014, intellectual property law firm Woodcock Washburn LLP merged with BakerHostetler, adding three offices in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Seattle. [11]
In 2016, the firm announced it was using IBM's Watson, named "ROSS", to assist attorneys in their bankruptcy practice. Other law firms had signed agreements with ROSS, but BakerHostetler was the first to announce the use of the artificial intelligence-based service. [12]
In 2020, the firm formed its sixth practice group, the Digital Assets and Data Management Practice group, to address the lifecycle of data. The practice group's formation signaled the importance of "data" to the practice of law and the clients the firm represents. [13]
BakerHostetler, through partner Irving Picard and his team, has been overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff’s firm in bankruptcy court, and has so far recovered over $14 billion [14] —about 70 percent of approved claims—by suing those who profited from the scheme, whether they knew of the scheme or not. [15] Kathy Bazoian Phelps, a bankruptcy lawyer at Diamond McCarthy, said "That kind of recovery is extraordinary and atypical,” as clawbacks in such schemes range from 5 percent to 30 percent, and many victims don’t get anything. [15] Picard has successfully pursued not only investors, but spouses and estates of those who profited, such as the wife of Bernard Madoff (Ruth Madoff), the widow and estate of the deceased Stanley Chais, and the estate of the deceased Jeffry Picower and Picower's widow Barbara, with whom he reached a $7.2 billion settlement (the largest civil forfeiture payment in US history). [15] [16] [17]
BakerHostetler represents the Official Committee of Tort Claimants, the official committee representing the interests of over 70,000 victims of Northern California wildfires in the chapter 11 reorganization of Pacific Gas and Electric Company and PG&E Corporation. PG&E is the largest bankruptcy case ever filed in California [18] and the sixth largest case ever filed in the United States. [19]
Major League Baseball has been a longstanding client of BakerHostetler. [20]
On August 25, 2014, House Republicans hired BakerHostetler's David Rivkin to provide legal representation to sue President Obama over the Affordable Care Act. [21]
BakerHostetler represents Switzerland-based oil trading firm Paramount Energy & Commodities SA. [22]
In 2015, lawyers of the firm acted on behalf of Prevezon, a companly linked with relatives of senior Russian officials, and attempted to subpoena Bill Browder into revealing extensive information on his attempts to advance the Magnitsky act. [23]
In 2020, the law firm employed nearly 1000 attorneys and had offices in 17 different markets including: New York City, Washington, D.C., California (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Costa Mesa), Colorado (Denver), Delaware (Wilmington), Florida (Orlando), Georgia (Atlanta), Illinois (Chicago), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), Texas (Dallas, Houston), Ohio (Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati), and Washington (Seattle).
Holland & Knight LLP is a multinational law firm with nearly 2000 attorneys and professional staff worldwide. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm has a number of different practices areas, including litigation, corporate law, real estate, construction law, and intellectual property. It is the 19th largest law firm in the world by attorney count and the 26th biggest by revenue.
Jones Day is an American multinational law firm based in Washington, D.C. As of 2023, it is one of the largest law firms in the United States with 2,302 attorneys, and among the highest grossing in the world with revenues of $2.5 billion. Originally headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Jones Day ranks first in both M&A league tables and the 2017 U.S. Law Firm Brand Index. Jones Day has represented over half of the companies in the Fortune 500, including Goldman Sachs, General Motors, McDonald's, and Bridgestone.
Proskauer Rose LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm 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 is one of the largest law firms in the world by revenue and is widely considered one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. It was established in 1866 and its headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. Among its notable alumni are Former President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama.
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, also known as Pillsbury, is a full-service law firm with a particular focus on the energy, financial services, real estate and technology industries. Based in the world's major financial, technology and energy centers, Pillsbury counsels clients on global business, regulatory and litigation matters.
The term clawback or claw back refers to any money or benefits that have been given out, but are required to be returned due to special circumstances or events, such as the monies having been received as the result of a financial crime, or where there is a clawback provision in the executive compensation contract.
Thelen LLP, formerly known as Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner was a bicoastal American law firm formed by two mergers between California and New York–based law firms. The firm peaked at roughly 600 attorneys in 2006, and had 500 early in 2008, with attorneys with offices in eight cities in the United States, England and China. By the time of its decision to dissolve in late October 2008, it had shrunk to 400 attorneys through layoffs and attrition. Thelen was known for its preeminent construction practice which dates back to the 1930s and the local association between the law firm and contractors and developers of large hydroelectric dam projects. The construction practice offered regulatory, transactional and dispute resolution support. It was also known for its energy expertise, particularly in the electricity regulatory area, as well as for legal advice concerning technology and outsourcing.
Reed Smith LLP is a global law firm with more than 1,500 lawyers in 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Crowell & Moring is an international law firm headquartered in Washington, DC, with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, Chicago, Denver, London, Brussels, Doha, and Shanghai. With approximately 600 lawyers, the firm advises multinational corporations on regulatory, litigation, corporate, and investigations matters. As of 2022, Crowell & Moring is ranked among the top 100 law firms in the United States in The American Lawyer's "AmLaw 100" list, based on gross revenue.
Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP is a full service law firm with offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., and London.
Seyfarth Shaw LLP is an international AmLaw 100 law firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in Chicago in 1945 by Henry Seyfarth, Lee Shaw, and Owen Fairweather, Seyfarth Shaw originally focused on the area of labor and employment law. Today, the firm’s clients include over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies, and its practice reflects virtually every industry and segment of the economy.
Bernard Lawrence Madoff was an American fraudster and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.
Fairfield Greenwich Group is an investment firm founded in 1983 in New York City. The firm had among the largest exposures to the Bernard Madoff fraud.
The Madoff investment scandal was a major case of stock and securities fraud discovered in late 2008. In December of that year, Bernie Madoff, the former Nasdaq chairman and founder of the Wall Street firm Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, admitted that the wealth management arm of his business was an elaborate multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
Participants in the Madoff investment scandal included employees of Bernard Madoff's investment firm with specific knowledge of the Ponzi scheme, a three-person accounting firm that assembled his reports, and a network of feeder funds that invested their clients' money with Madoff while collecting significant fees. Madoff avoided most direct financial scrutiny by accepting investments only through these feeder funds, while obtaining false auditing statements for his firm. The liquidation trustee of Madoff's firm has implicated managers of the feeder funds for ignoring signs of Madoff's deception.
Recovery of funds from the Madoff investment scandal has been underway since the scandal broke in December 2008. That month, recovery trustee Irving Picard received funds from the Bank of New York account where Bernard Madoff held new investments into his Ponzi scheme. As it has been concluded that no legitimate investments were made on the investors' behalf for at least the last 12 years of operation, recovery has proceeded on a "money in/money out" basis. Investors are entitled to receive no more than the nominal cash amounts that they paid in and did not subsequently withdraw, without regard to inflation, interest, opportunity cost or the false statements that Madoff provided them. Those statements combined to a total balance of approximately $64 billion, while the admitted claims amount to $19.5 billion. As of March 2022, the trustee had recovered $14.6 billion toward these claims through legal action against Madoff associates, feeder funds and beneficiaries of the scheme, and had made fourteen distributions to investors. Action by the Department of Justice has recovered an additional $4 billion.
Irving H. Picard is a partner in the law firm BakerHostetler. He is known for his recovery of funds from the Madoff investment scandal from investors, Bernie Madoff and his family, and their spouses and estates. Throughout the ordeal, Picard's law firm was paid approximately $1 billion.
Jeffry M. Picower was an American investor involved in the Madoff investment scandal. He was the largest beneficiary of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and his widow agreed to have his estate settle the claims against it by Madoff trustee Irving Picard for $7.2 billion, the largest single forfeiture in American judicial history.
Stanley Chais was an American investment advisor, money manager, and philanthropist. He operated "feeder funds" which collected money for funds related to the Madoff investment scandal. The widow, family, and estate of Chais settled with Madoff trustee Irving Picard in 2016 for $277 million.
Sterling Equities is a diversified, family-run group of companies based in Great Neck, New York whose portfolio consists primarily of holdings in real estate, sports, and media in the New York area. These include the New York Mets, the Brooklyn Cyclones, SportsNet New York, the New York Excelsior, Sterling Project Development, and a number of real estate investment portfolios and real estate services businesses. The firm became embroiled in the Bernie Madoff Scandal exposing a relationship between Sterling Equities partners and Bernie Madoff spanning 20 years. The partners eventually settled a billion dollar suit with the Madoff Trustee, Irving Picard, for $161 million.
The foundation was officially created in February 2016, according to Delaware state records, and Arakelian is listed as the incorporator. But Arakelian told the FBI he "was not involved in the incorporation" and that it was actually Lieberman and the law firm BakerHostetler who "conducted" it.