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Revision as of 14:37, 16 May 2010 by Reconsider the static (talk | contribs) (Reverted edits by Lawgazer (talk) to last version by Reconsider the static)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) "L&W" redirects here. For the British publishing company, see Lawrence and Wishart. | |
| Company type | Limited liability partnership |
|---|---|
| Industry | Legal services |
| Founded | 1934 |
| Headquarters | 29 offices - Los Angeles, CA |
| Key people | Robert Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner |
| Products | Full legal services |
| Revenue | N/A |
| Number of employees | Approximately 2,000 Attorneys |
| Website | www.lw.com |
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 2008, Latham & Watkins became the first US-based law firm to attain more than $2 billion in yearly revenue. During 2009 the firm has been in the news for its financial difficulties and subsequent employee layoffs, likely the key factors in its drop from the 7th most prestigious firm as rated by associates in 2009 to the 17th most prestigious firm as rated by associates in 2010.
Law firm consultants have warned that the firm's failure to properly diversify the practice groups, forecast demand, and respond to the downturn without massive layoffs affecting first year associates may have harmed Latham's competitive edge.
Recognition
The American Lawyer's 2008 "A-list" ranked Latham & Watkins 2nd in the nation out of more than 200 firms taking into account factors such as revenue per lawyer, pro bono, diversity and associate satisfaction. It ranked 7th in the 2009 Vault Prestige List, a survey that asks law firm associates to rank the perceived prestige of the major law firms . Further, in 2007 the Vault 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.. These surveys occurred prior to the mass layoffs. Since that time, Latham has dropped to 17th in rank.
Latham was ranked first by Legal500, along with two other firms in the U.S., for project finance. 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.
On October 10, 2007, Latham & Watkins was included in a ranking of law firms by the national law student group Building a Better Legal Profession. The organization ranked firms by billable hours, demographic diversity, and pro bono participation. The results can be found on the organization's website, http://www.betterlegalprofession.org.
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
Mass layoffs
On February 27, 2009, Latham conducted one of the largest layoffs in law firm history when the firm laid off 190 associates and 250 staff on a single day. This was in addition to an unknown number of associates estimated to be in the hundreds that the firm had laid off a month earlier (the term "stealth layoffs" has been used to describe these cover layoffs).
The February 2009 layoffs made the firm notorious as an employer in the law firm world, and led to the coining of the term "Lathamed," which broadly refers to associates layoffs, particularly those affecting first year associates.
The notoriety was in part due to the focus of the layoffs on first year attorneys (in NY over half the first year class was laid off, in LA it was a third, and a significant number of first years were laid off in the other Latham offices). The firm dropped 10 points in the Vault rankings after the layoffs and has suffered significant damage to its reputation.
Law firm consultants have opined that management made a "very serious mistake" in failing to diversify the practice groups, and that despite management's "cynical position" on the layoffs the firm will be negatively impacted by management's rash actions. One legal recruiter has commented that junior associates are leaving Latham.
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, London, Los Angeles, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Newark, New Jersey, New York City, Costa Mesa, California, 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
- Helge Boes, Central Intelligence Agency officer killed in Afghanistan
- Michael Chertoff, former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
- Chris Cox, former United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 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 Federal Communications Commission (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 Summers)
- Beth Wilkinson - Prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case, former General Counsel of FannieMae and currently a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
References
- http://www.lw.com/Attorneys.aspx
- Ashby Jones, "Latham & Watkins Breaks $2 Billion Revenue Barrier", Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2008.
- http://abovethelaw.com/2009/08/official_new_vault_rankings.php?show=comments#comments
- ^ http://www.thelawyer.com/the-transatlantic-elite-2009-the-sweet-sixteen/1000698.article
- Amir Efrati, You Say You Want a Big-Law Revolution, Take II, "Wall Street Journal", October 10, 2007.
- Adam Liptak, In Students’ Eyes, Look-Alike Lawyers Don’t Make the Grade, New York Times, October 29, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/us/29bar.html?em&ex=1193889600&en=4b0cd84261ffe5b4&ei=5087%0A
- Thomas Adcock and Zusha Elinson, Student Group Grades Firms On Diversity, Pro Bono Work, "New York Law Journal," October 19, 2007, http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?hubtype=BackPage&id=1192698212305
- ^ www.legalbusinessonline.com.au
- http://abovethelaw.com/2009/02/latham_lays_off_440.php
- http://abovethelaw.com/2009/01/stealth-layoffs-open-thread-latham-watkins/
- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Lathamed
- http://www.thelawyer.com/latham-salary-thaw-meets-with-hot-and-cold-reception/1003081.article
- http://abovethelaw.com/2010/03/latham-lathams-accrued-vacation/
- http://abovethelaw.com/2009/12/latham-watkins-we-have-good-news/
- http://careers.abovethelaw.com/firm_snapshots?id=79
- http://www.thelawyer.com/latham-salary-thaw-meets-with-hot-and-cold-reception/1003081.article.
- "$4.84 billion acquisition". International Law Office. 2004 September 13. Retrieved 2009 October 18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - "Rise of Latham & Watkins" (PDF). Vol. 7, No. 1. M&A Journal. 2007 March 31. Retrieved 2009 October 18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - "India Awards". Asia Law. 2008 December. Retrieved 2009 October 18.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Reckard, Scott (2006 November 8). "Scientology groups to pay back $3.5 million". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008 April 24.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - Gray, Tyler (2008-03-31). "Anonymous on Trial? Scientology Steps Up Skirmish". Radar. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- Lat, David (2008-04-01). "Latham & Watkins to Free Stress Tests?". Above the Law. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- Lee, Lisa (2008-10-10). "Latham gilds Lilly's ImClone offer". The Deal. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Mideast Legal Business Online. 2009-09-03 http://mideast.legalbusinessonline.com/deals/yahoo-maktoobcom-acquisition/2088. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
{{cite news}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Bowman, Lisa (1999 October 3). "Schindler heads toward life post-Mitnick". ZD Net. Retrieved 2008 April 24.
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