Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Alston & Bird LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Alston & Bird
- Designation: Atlanta
- Head Count: 805
- Gross Revenues: $686,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $850,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,715,000
- Year Over Year Change: 2
There aren’t many firms where lawyers drive around in UPS trucks for a day delivering packages. No, it’s not a punishment detail, but a program to enable Alston & Bird attorneys to learn more about the shipping giant, a key client. Going the extra mile—literally—to understand a client’s business has helped the Atlanta–based firm rack up a roster of A–list relationships with companies including The Dow Chemical Company, Bank of America, Delta Air Lines, Nokia, Twentieth Century Fox, and The Prudential Insurance Company of America.
A full–service firm, Alston & Bird has particular strengths in intellectual property (nearly 200 of the firm’s approximately 800 attorneys practice IP full–time) and public policy. (Alston & Bird’s legislative and public policy group includes four former congressional leaders, including 1996 presidential candidate and former senate majority leader Bob Dole.) While the firm traces its roots back to 1893, a series of mergers—particularly from the late 1990s on—significantly expanded Alston & Bird’s size and reach, giving it additional offices in locations like New York, Dallas, and Los Angeles.
Alston & Bird played a significant role in the aftermath of the Enron scandal: Partner Neal Batson was named examiner for the failed energy company by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The firm has also fared relatively well in the nonfinancial metrics that The American Lawyer tracks, ranking twenty–eighth of 126 firms in the magazine’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey, placing sixty–sixth of 194 firms on our 2011 Diversity Scorecard, and coming in forty–sixth (out of 200) on the 2011 Pro Bono Report. It’s also a regular on Fortune’s Best Companies to Work rankings. Like much about Alston & Bird, the numbers may not be chart–topping, but they are respectable, and for many of the firm’s peers, enviable.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 41 | 2 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 41 | 2 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 38 | 2 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 32 | 14 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 46 | 18 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 70 | 4 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 28 | 25 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 22 | 3 | Summer programs |
In the News
Same thing, different year: Slow growth becomes routine
Meredith Hobbs : Daily Report : April 8, 2013
How to prosper in a zero-growth economy, with sluggish demand and price-sensitive clients, was the question that Atlanta's largest firms grappled with as 2012 wore on.
King & Spalding
: Daily Report : April 5, 2013
Alston & Bird
: Daily Report : April 5, 2013
McKenna Long
: Daily Report : April 5, 2013
Alston & Bird, Kirkland join raft of firms circling potential Dell deal
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 3, 2013
The takeover battle for Dell Inc. may not have yet reached the level of Wall Street legend, but the proposed $24.4 billion leveraged buyout for the company has drawn in enough high-powered lawyers to make a small screen drama.
Reverse Commute
Elliott Hurwitt : Corporate Counsel : April 1, 2013
BB&T sues former counsel for malpractice
Greg Land : Daily Report : March 29, 2013
A law firm that defended itself in a malpractice suit that also accused its client of wrongdoing now faces another malpractice suit - from its now-former client. The complaint says that client was forced to pay "substantial monies" to settle the underlying case due to errors by its original firm.
Legislature passes limits on custody direct appeals
Kathleen Baydala Joyner : Daily Report : March 28, 2013
A bill limiting what parts of child custody cases are eligible for direct appeal has passed the General Assembly and been sent to the governor.
Big Deals
David Marcus : The American Lawyer : March 28, 2013
Berkshire/3G Capital/Heinz; Dell LBO; Liberty Global/Virgin Media; Zoetis IPO
Unsealing upheld of drugmaker's memo on FTC case
R. Robin McDonald : Daily Report : March 27, 2013
A federal appellate panel in Atlanta has upheld a decision to give the public access to a confidential corporate memo that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission had said is at the heart of its ongoing antitrust litigation against a pharmaceutical conglomerate, ruling that the memo is a judicial record subject to public scrutiny.
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