Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Bingham McCutchen LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Bingham McCutchen
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 900
- Gross Revenues: $872,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $970,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,690,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
It may not be wise to compare a firm with deep roots in Boston to New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio, but both enjoyed memorable streaks: DiMaggio, 56 straight games with a hit; Bingham McCutchen, 15 straight years of rising revenues. Indeed, Bingham’s streak continued through the worst of the global financial crisis, ending only in 2011.
The baseball analogy is doubly fitting, since one needs a scorecard to follow Bingham’s growth. The firm is the result of a string of mergers, beginning in 2001, when Boston’s Bingham Dana merged with Richards & O’Neill, a 55–lawyer New York firm known for its litigation and corporate groups. The following year, Bingham merged with San Francisco’s McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, adding five offices and boosting its intellectual property practice. A few smaller mergers followed, and then in 2009, Bingham acquired McKee Nelson, an Am Law 200 firm that specialized in tax and structured finance.
Despite Bingham’s above–average showing during the downturn—it placed fifth of 84 firms on The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index—it laid off a few dozen lawyers and staff in 2009 and instituted a salary freeze for that year. Not incidentally, perhaps, subsequent associate satisfaction scores were less than stellar, with the firm placing 105th of 137 firms in our 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey and eighty–third of 126 firms on the 2011 tally. Summer associates, on the other hand, saw things quite differently, with the firm ranking second on the magazine’s 2010 survey and third in 2011.
Bingham—which has a sizable presence in Washington, D.C., thanks to a 2006 merger with 175–lawyer Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman—has branched out into lobbying work. A fully owned subsidiary, Bingham Consulting, assists clients with matters that mix business, policy, and politics. Chris Cox, a former California Congressman and SEC chair, heads BC. The firm has also joined many of its peers in looking toward Asia for future growth. It opened Hong Kong and Tokyo offices in 2007, followed by a Beijing office in 2011.
Indeed, China’s growing importance is such, says firm chair Jay Zimmerman, that “we can’t afford not to be there in the long term.”
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 26 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 26 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 32 | 6 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 55 | 12 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 122 | 32 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 83 | 22 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | NR | N/A | Summer programs |
In the News
Bingham McCutchen Adds IP Partner in Silicon Valley
Julia Love : The Recorder : May 23, 2013
Silicon Valley IP litigator Sasha Rao has jumped from Ropes & Gray to Bingham McCutchen as a partner. Rao holds a degree in physics and brings with her 17 years of patent litigation experience. She arrives at Bingham on the heels of an eight-lawyer team led by partner Richard de Bodo, who joined from DLA Piper last month.
Bingham Adds IP Partner in Silicon Valley
Julia Love : The Recorder : May 21, 2013
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 17, 2013
Andrews Kurth heads to London; Bingham McCutchen grabs seven lawyers in Tokyo; and a Munger, Tolles & Olson partner plans a move to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Bingham Recruits Tokyo Funds Team
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 15, 2013
Bingham McCutchen's Tokyo office has recruited a seven-lawyer investment funds team from White & Case. The group is led by partner Christopher Wells, who focuses on overseas funds' Japan investments, and partner Tomoko Fuminaga, who has a similar practice targeting investment funds and financial institutions.
Surging U.S. IPO Market Yields Gains for Cooley, Hunton
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 14, 2013
U.S. companies have already raised $16.8 billion through initial public offerings so far this year and several Am Law 100 firms are reaping the benefits.
Bingham Recruits Tokyo Funds Team
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 13, 2013
The Boston-based firm is bringing aboard a seven-lawyer group from White & Case.
Litigation Department Of The Year Awards
: The Connecticut Law Tribune : May 13, 2013
Bill Davis is being honored in conjunction with the Connecticut Law Tribune's inaugural Litigation Department of the Year Awards. Click here to read the article on Davis and those on the dozen other winners.
Texas' Top Deals of 2012
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys : Texas Lawyer : May 13, 2013
The top 10 deals in Texas in 2012.
Litigation Department Of The Year Winner: Bingham McCutchen's Hartford Office Relishes High-Stakes Cases
DOUGLAS S. MALAN : The Connecticut Law Tribune : May 13, 2013
Based on Bingham's litigation record in Connecticut and beyond in 2012, the Law Tribune is awarding it the Litigation Department of the Year Award for top Connecticut Office of an Out-of-State Firm.
Digital Signatures Are Safer Than Ink on Paper
D. Casey Flaherty : Law Technology News : May 13, 2013
Pen and paper is an inferior option for executing legally binding agreements. Yet a recent study commissioned by Adobe Systems Inc. found that 98 percent of surveyed managers "still rely on hard copy in the 'last mile' to deliver contracts to get clients and customers to sign on the dotted line."
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