Latham & Watkins profile,
 | |
| Type | Limited liability partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Legal services |
| Founded | 1934 |
| Headquarters | 30 offices - Los Angeles, CA |
| Key people | Robert Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner |
| Products | Full legal services |
| Revenue | N/A |
| Employees | Approximately 2,000 Attorneys |
| Website | www.lw.com |
The Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive California roots, but its largest office is now in New York City.
Latham has historically been one of the most profitable law firms. In 2007, Latham & Watkins became the first US-based law firm to attain more than $2 billion in yearly revenue.
History
Dana Latham and Paul Watkins founded Latham & Watkins in January 1934 in Los Angeles, California. Latham's practice focused on US state and federal tax law and he eventually served as Commissioner of the US Internal Revenue Service under President Dwight Eisenhower. Watkins' practise focused primarily on labor. Although Latham & Watkins began with a focus on labor and tax law, the firm has grown into an international, full-service law practice with highly regarded practices in transactional, disputes and regulatory areas.
When Latham & Watkins was founded, the firm consisted of three attorneys. The firm grew slowly, and, in 1960, there were 19 attorneys. The firm grew significantly in the 1960s, increasing the attorney headcount to 46 in 1970.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Latham & Watkins utilized a system of internal committees to run the firm and allowed associates to participate in the majority of these committees. The Associates Committee was founded in 1971 and governs the career development of the firm's associates. The Associates Committee includes both associates and partners. Through this committee, Latham & Watkins includes associates in the promotion process. Associates are also involved in the Diversity Committee, Recruiting Committee, Pro Bono Committee and TACE (Training and Career Enhancement) Committee.
Jack Walker became the firm's managing partner in 1988 and set out to grow the firm. Latham & Watkins expanded into San Francisco, London, Moscow, Hong Kong and New Jersey. Bob Dell took over as managing partner in 1994 and remains in that position presently. Dell's tenure has been marked by the firm's international growth.
In 2008, Latham's profits per partner plummetted 20.5%. As a result, in early 2009 Latham laid off an unknown number of lawyers in January, and then in February laid off another 190 lawyers and 250 staff members in the largest layoff up to that time by an American law firm. The AmLaw Daily stated that the layoffs were "the most dramatic cuts announced so far by an Am Law 100 firm." Chambers Associate has observed that such was the severity of the cuts that the term "Lathamed" had been coined, which by its most polite definition means "to be laid off." In 2009, Latham dropped ten places on the the Vault.com Top Law Firms List and revenues dropped by 5%. However, profits increased by 5% as a reduction in headcount led to greater net income.
Recognition
The American Lawyer's 2010 "A-List" ranked Latham & Watkins 13th in the nation out of more than 200 firms.This represents a ten point drop from its ranking a year earlier. The survey takes into account factors such as revenue per lawyer, pro bono, diversity and associate satisfaction. It ranked 17th in the 2010 Vault.com Top Law Firms List, a survey that asks law firm associates to rank the perceived prestige of the major law firms. This ranking represented a drop of ten spots from its 2009 ranking, a drop which Vault.com's managing editor called "unprecedented". In 2007, Vault.com ranked Latham as one of the "Best 20 Firms to Work For," one of only three large firms with New York offices to make the list. However, in 2009 and 2010, Latham & Watkins was not included on the list of "Best 20 Firms to Work For" while 13 large firms with New York offices made the list.
Latham was ranked first by Legal500, along with two other firms in the U.S., for project finance.[citation needed] Latham was also identified in the December 2006 issue of The American Lawyer as the Am Law 200's "most admired firm."Legal Business magazine awarded Latham the coveted title "Law Firm of the Decade" for its ability to handle the immense challenges posed by the legal industry globally over the last ten years and its financial and strategic success during the period.
At the 2008 ALB SE Asia Law Awards, Latham & Watkins was crowned:
Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year
Deal of the Year - Equity Market Deal of the Year
At the 2008 ALB China Law Awards, Latham & Watkins was crowned:
Deal of the Year - Project Finance Deal of the Year
Notable clients and cases
Represented Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. in its $4.84 billion sale to the Sony Corporation in cooperation with Providence Equity Partners Inc, Texas Pacific Group Inc, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Comcast Corporation (September 2004).
Advised Bayer AG in its successful 2006 €16.4 billion white knight takeover offer for Schering AG pharmaceuticals.
Legal counsel to bookrunners and arrangers Deutsche Bank Securities Inc, Goldman Sachs International and Merrill Lynch International in $2 billion Rule 144A/Regulation S notes offer for ICICI Bank Ltd, through its Bahrain branch (Oct. 2007). This transaction was shortlisted for the Asia Law India award in the category capital markets.
Represented the Church of Scientology in the Reed Slatkin Ponzi scheme, and in 2008 letters signed by David J. Schindler on Latham & Watkins stationary were hand-delivered to Anonymous protesters identified by Scientology, demanding cessation of unspecified "illegal activities against the church".
Represented Eli Lilly & Co. in its $6.5 billion acquisition of ImClone in October 2008, in which Eli Lilly prevailed in an abortive price war with Bristol-Myers Squibb, a rival pharmaceutical company that had been seeking control of ImClone, a leader in the field of oncology medicine.
Advised Yahoo! Inc. in the definitive agreement to acquire Arabic language online portal Maktoob in August 2009. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Notable attorneys
Sean Berkowitz - Federal prosecutor in the trials of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.
John Kirby - Intellectual property attorney, after whom Nintendo may have named its "Kirby" character after a series of high-profile cases.
Gregory G. Garre - Former Solicitor General of the United States.
Maureen Mahoney - Former Deputy Solicitor General in 1991, represented the University of Michigan before the U.S. Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger.
Philip Perry, was Dept. of Homeland Security General Counsel, now a partner in the litigation department and chair of the Public Policy practice group. He is married to Elizabeth Cheney, attorney, diplomat and daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney.
David J. Schindler, convicted hackers Justin Tanner Petersen, Kevin Mitnick, and Kevin Poulsen.
Joshua Stein - One of the leading writers on commercial real estate law in the US as well as a leading practitioner. Editor of the website Real-Estate-Law.com.
Offices
Latham currently has 1,900 attorneys throughout its offices in: Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Barcelona, Brussels, Chicago, Dubai, Doha, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, New Jersey, New York City, Costa Mesa, California, Rome, Riyadh, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley(Menlo Park), Singapore, Tokyo and Washington D.C.
Notable alumni
Bruce Babbitt, former Governor of Arizona and U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Michael Chertoff, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
Chris Cox, former United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair
Mark S. Fowler, former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair
Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. former Partner and Commissioner of Internal Revenue at the Internal Revenue Service
Carla Anderson Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Roderick M. Hills, former SEC Chair
Reed Hundt, former FCC Chair
DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the NFLPA
Bill Wehrum, acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air & Radiation United States Environmental Protection Agency
James J. White, Robert A. Sullivan Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School and author of a treatise on the Uniform Commercial Code (with Robert S. Summers)
Beth Wilkinson - Prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case, former General Counsel of FannieMae.
See also:List of top 10 largest law firms
(source:wikipedia)
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