Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Crowell & Moring LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Crowell & Moring
- Designation: Washington, D.C.
- Head Count: 459
- Gross Revenues: $349,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $760,000
- Profits Per Partner: $925,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
Most firms have a founding lawyer or two—Crowell & Moring had 53. The Washington, D.C.–based firm got its start in 1979, thanks to former Jones Day attorneys who had already developed one of the country’s leading government contracts practice. Today, in addition to the D.C. office—one of the city’s largest with nearly 300 attorneys—Crowell maintains offices in five other U.S. cities, as well as in Brussels and London.
While government contracts work still constitutes a big component of Crowell’s workload, the firm has also branched out into other areas, particularly antitrust (it was lead antitrust counsel in the $16 billion merger between SBC Communications and AT&T in 2005), health care, intellectual property, and civil and criminal litigation. Crowell has also been a champion of alternative fee arrangements, particularly “success–based” formulas—everything from reduced flat fees with performance bonuses to contingent fee arrangements to holdbacks, where the client gets to decide if Crowell earned its keep. The firm, says chair Kent Gardiner, “has made the decision to go with their clients all–in on alternative fee arrangements. The clients like that because we have skin in the game.”
Crowell is known, too, for expanding by picking up lateral partner groups. It launched its San Francisco office in 2009 after hiring 29 litigators from Folger Levin & Kahn (including name partner Michael Kahn). The same year, it jump–started its environmental and natural resources practice with five lawyers from Patton Boggs.
Like some of its D.C. rivals, Crowell has a subsidiary that does policy and regulatory consulting work, and it also scores well on The American Lawyer’s pro bono surveys. In 2011 it placed thirty–sixth of 200 firms, with the average Crowell attorney putting in 70 hours of volunteer legal work. Diversity scores are also above average, putting the firm forty–third of 194 firms in 2011. (Crowell says it was the first major D.C. firm to have a woman chair when Rosemary Collyer assumed the post in 1995.) Scores from Crowell’s junior lawyers gave it a ninety–sixth place ranking (of 137 firms) on The American Lawyer’s 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey, though it improved to fifty–third (of 126 firms) in 2011. Perhaps those quirky rubber ducks that float in the firm’s lobby fountain really are livening the mood around the office.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 83 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 83 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 95 | 2 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 42 | 1 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 36 | 5 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 60 | 17 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 53 | 43 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 9 | 3 | Summer programs |
In the News
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events
Monica Bay & Sean Doherty : Law Technology News : April 15, 2013
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events: This week includes an e-discovery boot camp, the Civil Rules Committee, Big Data, and drones. [MORE]
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events
Monica Bay &: Sean Doherty : Law Technology News : April 8, 2013
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events: on Tuesday, "Anti-Corruption / Anti-Bribery Compliance and Corporate Culture," and on Thursday, "Where Records Management and eDiscovery Intersect." [MORE]
This lawyer found a higher calling
Ross Todd : The American Lawyer : April 4, 2013
The story of how the Rev. Luther Zeigler traded power ties for the priestly collar has become central to his ministry as the Episcopal chaplain at Harvard University.
Talent development in law firms: Lessons from three great ironies
Kent A. Gardiner : The National Law Journal : April 4, 2013
Mark Twain's classic commentary - on the ironies of how we see and value each other as we grow in our own experiences - is timeless and, it seems, universal even to law firms.
Reverse Commute
Elliott Hurwitt : Corporate Counsel : April 1, 2013
Sanctions climb in battle over religious texts
Zoe Tillman : The National Law Journal : April 1, 2013
A court order levying a $50,000 daily fine against the Russian government for refusing to return thousands of Jewish religious texts made international headlines in January. But what's happened since then remains a secret, except that the Russian Federation's tab has grown to more than $3.5 million.
A Higher Calling
Ross Todd : The American Lawyer : March 28, 2013
With the support of his firm, an Am Law 100 partner joins the clergy.
Parties duel over recusal issue
Tony Mauro : The National Law Journal : March 25, 2013
Dueling briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Proposition 8 case Hollings­worth v. Perry have revived the debate over whether two California federal judges involved in the case at earlier stages should have recused themselves.
Talent development in law firms: three great ironies
Kent A. Gardiner : The National Law Journal : March 25, 2013
In the past few years, senior law firm leaders have been amazed at how much our junior associates actually know. They, of course, haven't changed; we have, in our understanding and appreciation of what they have to offer.
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events
Monica Bay : Law Technology News : March 21, 2013
Next! LTN Picks of Upcoming Panels & Events: Upcoming programs and webinars from e-discovery to Big Data to "Flying Eyes in the Sky."
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