Latham & Watkins

Infobox_Company
company_name = Latham & Watkins
company_
company_type = Limited liability partnership| foundation = 1934
location = 28 offices
key_people = Robert Dell, Chairman and Managing Partner
num_employees = 2,100 Attorneys
industry = Legal services
products = Full legal services

revenue = N/A
homepage = [http://www.lw.com/ www.lw.com]

Latham & Watkins LLP is a prominent global law firm. It is one of the largest law firms in the world, currently employing more than 2,100 attorneys in the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. [ [http://www.ilrg.com/nlj250/ Internet Legal Research Group — 250 Largest Law Firms in the US] ] The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive California roots, but its largest office is now in New York City.

It currently has 2,100 attorneys throughout its offices in: Abu Dhabi, 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, Reston, Virginia, Paris, San Diego, San Francisco, Shanghai, Silicon Valley(Menlo Park), Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington D.C.

As of 2006, it was the 5th largest law firm in the world by revenue, and the second largest in the United States. In 2008, Latham & Watkins became the first US-based law firm in history to announce over $2 billion in yearly revenue. [Ashby Jones, [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120269357869457865.html "Latham & Watkins Breaks $2 Billion Revenue Barrier"] , Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2008.]

Recognition

"The American Lawyer"'s 2008 "A-list" ranked Latham & Watkins 2nd in the nation out of more than 200 firms [http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202422145792] taking into account factors such as diversity, dedication to pro bono, prestige and associate satisfaction. It ranked 7th in the 2009 Vault Prestige List, a survey which asks law firm associates to rank the perceived prestige of the major law firms [http://www.vault.com/nr/lawrankings.jsp?law2007=2&ch_id=242&top100=1] . 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. [http://www.vault.com/nr/lawrankings.jsp?law2007=6&ch_id=242&best20=1] . Latham was ranked first by Legal500, along with two other firms in the US, 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. [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 ] 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. [ 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 ]

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 (Sept. 2004).
*Advised Bayer AG in its successful 2006 €16.4 billion 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).

Notable Latham & Watkins attorneys

*Sean Berkowitz - Federal prosecutor in the trials of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.
*Kirk Davenport II - High-yield debt attorney.
*David Gordon and Bill Voge - project finance attorneys.
*John Kirby - Intellectual property attorney, in honor of whom Nintendo named its "Kirby" character after a series of high-profile cases
*Maureen Mahoney - Former Deputy Solicitor General in 1991, represented the University of Michigan before the Supreme Court in Grutter v. Bollinger
*Philip Perry, was Department of Homeland Security, [http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=11&content=5659] General Counsel, now a partner in the litigation department and chair of the Public Policy practic group. He is married to Elizabeth Cheney, attorney, diplomat and daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney.
*David J. Schindler – convicted famous hackers Justin Tanner Petersen, Kevin Mitnick (aka Condor), and Kevin Poulsen (aka Dark Dante) [cite news
last = Bowman
first = Lisa
coauthors =
title = Schindler heads toward life post-Mitnick
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = ZD Net
date = 1999 October 3
url = http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-501417.html
accessdate = 2008 April 24 ] , represented the notable Church of Scientology in the Reed Slatkin Ponzi scheme [cite news
last = Reckard
first = Scott
coauthors =
title = Scientology groups to pay back $3.5 million
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Los Angeles Times
date = 2006 November 8
url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/1158248221.html?dids=1158248221:1158248221&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current
accessdate = 2008 April 24 ]
*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 [http://www.real-estate-law.com/index_static.php] .
* Margaret Zwisler- One of the leading anti-trust lawyers in the United States.

Notable Latham & Watkins alumni

*Bruce Babbitt, former Governor of Arizona and U.S. Secretary of the Interior
*Michael Chertoff, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
*Chris Cox, SEC Chair
*Samuel Fishman, convicted on mail fraud case. [cite news
last = Heller
first = Jamie
coauthors =
title = Lawyer Pleas in Case Charging that He Bilked Firm and Clients
work =
pages =
language =
publisher = Wall Street Journal
date = 2008 March 28
url = http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/03/28/lawyer-pleas-in-case-charging-that-he-bilked-firm-and-clients/?mod=WSJBlog
accessdate = 2008 April 18 ]
*Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. former Partner and Commissioner of Internal Revenue at the IRS
*Carla Anderson Hills, former U.S. Trade Representative and HUD Secretary
*Roderick M. Hills, former SEC Chair
*Reed Hundt, former FCC Chair
*Dana Latham, Commissioner of Internal Revenue from 1958-1961
*Bill Wehrum, [http://www.epa.gov/air/oaraa.html 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.

References

External links

* [http://www.lw.com/ Latham & Watkins' Official Website]
* [http://www.lawperiscope.com/profiles/143.html LawPeriscope Profile]
* [http://breakinglegalnews.com/search/latham%20&%20Watkins Breaking Legal News]