Goodwin Procter

Infobox Law Firm
firm_name = Goodwin Procter LLP
firm_
headquarters = Boston, MA
num_offices = 7
num_attorneys = 900+ (October 2008)
num_employees =
practice_areas = General practice
key_people = Regina M. Pisa, Chairman and Managing Partner
revenue = profit$611.0 million USD (2007)
date_founded = 1912
founder = Robert Goodwin and Joseph Procter
company_type = Limited liability partnership
homepage = [http://www.goodwinprocter.com/ goodwinprocter.com]
dissolved =

Goodwin Procter LLP is a prominent law firm based in the United States, consisting of 900 attorneys serving clients in Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, Silicon Valley, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.. The firm’s core areas of practice are corporate, litigation and real estate, with specialized areas of focus that include financial services, private equity, leveraged finance, technology, REITs and real estate capital markets, intellectual property and products liability.

History

In 1912, lawyers and former Harvard classmates Robert Goodwin and Joseph Procter ran into each other on the street and – the story goes – decided to start their own law firm. On July 1, 1912, Goodwin & Procter opened its offices at 84 State Street in Boston, with the partners undertaking a general practice of law.

In 1913, with business booming, the first associate was hired by the firm: Harris H. Gilman – a Harvard Law School graduate – who signed on at $15 a week.

A year later, Joe Procter was approached by his friend and former classmate Arthur Ballantine, who inquired whether Joe’s previous offer to join the firm still stood. It did, and two years after the firm’s founding, the to-be name partner of New York-based Dewey Ballantine joined the firm. For four years it operated as Goodwin, Procter & Ballantine.

World War I began unfolding, and by 1916 the war was directly affecting the firm. Goodwin accepted a commission into the Massachusetts National Guard, and Arthur Ballantine was called up and asked to serve in the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s Legal Department in Washington, D.C. By 1917, only Procter and two associates remained to handle business. Samuel Hoar V was one of two litigators hired to help out. Six months later he too was called up for service. It wouldn’t be until 1919 that everyone would rejoin the firm. Soon after, Ballantine departed and Fred Field, a well-respected tax lawyer who was a friend of Procter’s and a colleague of Ballantine’s at the Revenue Bureau, signed on, and the firm was then known as Goodwin, Procter, Field & Hoar.

In early 1929, Fred Field was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (and would later become its Chief Justice), and the firm was renamed Goodwin, Procter & Hoar – a name it would retain for the next 72 years.

In January 2005, 24 partners from struggling Boston-based law firm of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault joined Goodwin Procter. [ [http://www.goodwinprocter.com/NewsEvents/News/Goodwin%20Procter%20Adds%2024%20Partners%20%20Partners%20join%20from%20Testa%20Hurwitz%20and%20Thibeault%20and%20McDermott%20Will.aspx Goodwin Procter Adds 24 Partners: Partners join from Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault and McDermott, Will & Emery] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.goodwinprocter.com/ Goodwin Procter website]
* [http://www.lawperiscope.com/profiles/103.html LawPeriscope Profile]