Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Dorsey & Whitney LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Dorsey & Whitney
- Designation: Minneapolis
- Head Count: 517
- Gross Revenues: $313,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $605,000
- Profits Per Partner: $515,000
- Year Over Year Change: 11
Dorsey & Whitney’s alumni roster reads like a veritable Who’s Who of Minnesota royalty. Former vice president Walter Mondale, U.S. Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun, and noted law professor William Prosser have all hung their diploma on Dorsey’s wall at some point in time. Sure, it’s easy to poke fun at a firm based in Minneapolis, but Dorsey’s lawyers have gotten the last laugh: The firm regularly scores in the upper reaches of The American Lawyer’s Midlevel Associates Survey, coming in tenth in 2010 and twentieth in 2011.
And Dorsey’s footprint actually extends far beyond its home state. It has offices throughout the United States, as well as in Europe and the Asia–Pacific region, and—perhaps not a surprise given the location of its headquarters—has a presence in Canada as well. In The Great White North, lawyers handle Canadian cross–border capital markets and M&A transactions among other matters. The firm as a whole is well–known for its M&A work, with other areas of focus including intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, tax, and trusts and estates.
More than a century old, Dorsey has never been a leader on revenue per lawyer or profits per partner: Both fall well outside the top 100 firms. And the firm took a hit during the global economic crisis, coming in fifty–seventh of 84 firms on The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index and seeing revenue drops in 2009 and 2010 before stabilizing in 2011.
While Dorsey trails the pack, too, on diversity—it ranked 128th of 194 firms on our 2011 Diversity Scorecard, with minorities comprising just 8 percent of the U.S. attorney ranks—it earns good marks on pro bono, coming in forty–fourth of 200 firms on the magazine’s 2011 survey. (Dorsey lawyers averaged nearly 70 hours a year of nonpaying work). Projects have included assistance on housing, civil rights, children’s immigration, and international human rights issues.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 99 | 11 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 99 | 11 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 75 | 5 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 44 | 1 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 138 | 10 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 20 | 10 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 16 | 9 | Summer programs |
In the News
Quick Change
Sue Reisinger : Corporate Counsel : April 1, 2013
GCs come and GCs go, but when do the number and speed constitute a problem?
Deals & Suits
: Corporate Counsel : April 1, 2013
The Revolving Door in the UnitedHealth GC Office
Sue Reisinger : Corporate Counsel : March 29, 2013
With five chief legal officers in seven years, the UnitedHealth Group Inc. legal department has had an unusually high turnover rate. Some experts say that this instability isn't good for a legal group—or for a corporate management team.
The Bankruptcy Files: AMR-US Airways Merger Seeks Liftoff
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : March 29, 2013
A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved this week an $11 billion merger between American Airlines parent AMR and U.S. Airways Group. In other big bankruptcies of note, Kirkland & Ellis is advising Atlantic City's newest casino Revel in its restructuring proceedings, while Willkie Farr takes the lead for wireline telecom services provider Otelco in its Chapter 11 case.
Asia Deal Digest: March 28, 2013
Jessica Seah : The Asian Lawyer : March 28, 2013
* Skadden and King & Wood Mallesons on $3 billion Sinopec JV* KKR turns to Simpson Thacher to exit the Japanese temp business* Dorsey & Whitney and Crawford Bayley guide an Indian bank on a $370 million share placement
Big Deals
David Marcus : The American Lawyer : March 27, 2013
Pinnacle/Ameristar; Cerberus/Supervalu; ICE/NYSE
Courts Still Often Fail to Provide Justice for Poor Criminal Defendants, Panel Says
Brendan Pierson : New York Law Journal : March 22, 2013
The discussion hosted by the New York County Lawyers' Association commemorated the anniversary of 'Gideon v. Wainwright,' which held that all indigent defendants facing felony charges are entitled to court-appointed counsel. The ruling was later extended to all criminal offenses.
N.Y. Makes 'Painfully Slow' Progress in Applying Landmark Ruling
Joel Stashenko : New York Law Journal : March 18, 2013
Fifty years to the day since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 'Gideon v. Wainwright' that courts are required to provide indigent criminal defendants with counsel, critics say New York's system of criminal representation for the poor remains deficient, although progress is being made.
Howrey Trustee Makes Good on Promise to Sue Ex-Partners
Sara Randazzo : The Litigation Daily : March 14, 2013
The first round of lawsuits aimed at clawing back both the money former Howrey partners were paid by the firm before it dissolved and the revenue earned from assignments they brought to the firms where they landed after its collapse has been launched, with more expected.
Howrey Trustee Makes Good on Promise to Sue Former Partners
Sara Randazzo : The Am Law Daily : March 12, 2013
Nearly two years to the day after Washington, D.C.-based litigation shop Howrey dissolved, the trustee unwinding the defunct firm's Chapter 11 estate has launched the first round of lawsuits aimed at clawing back money earned by former Howrey partners from assignments they brought to the firms where they landed. More suits, and settlement talks, are in the works.
- Akerman Senterfitt
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & Hostetler
- Baker & McKenzie
- Bingham McCutchen
- Bracewell & Giuliani
- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
- Brown Rudnick
- Burr & Forman
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Carlton Fields
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickinson Wright
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Greenberg Traurig
- Gross McGinley
- Harris Beach
- Haynes and Boone
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Hughes Hubbard & Reed
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Kutak Rock
- Lane Powell
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Lowenstein Sandler
- Margolis Edelstein
- McCarter & English
- McDermott Will & Emery
- McKenna Long & Aldridge
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo
- Morrison & Foerster
- Moses & Singer
- Nixon Peabody
- Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Proskauer Rose
- Pryor Cashman
- Reed Smith
- Richards, Layton & Finger
- Robinson & Cole
- Ropes & Gray
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Shipman & Goodwin
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Sullivan & Worcester
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wiley Rein
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Winston & Strawn
- Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor
