Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Drinker Biddle & Reath
- Designation: Philadelphia
- Head Count: 572
- Gross Revenues: $392,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $685,000
- Profits Per Partner: $715,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
While this Philadelphia–based firm goes a long way back—to 1849, to be precise—it is a relatively new entrant on The Am Law 100, making its first appearance in 2003. Fueling the firm’s growth is a series of mergers in recent years. The most significant of these was the firm’s 2007 union with Chicago’s Gardner Carton & Douglas, which gave Drinker a stronger presence in the Midwest (it now has 11 offices in the region) and added expertise in health law, employee benefits and executive compensation, hedge funds, and government and regulatory affairs, among other areas.
By some key metrics, however, Drinker, which numbers some 600 lawyers, still ranks well outside the top 100 firms. Diversity (150th place on The American Lawyer’s 2011 ranking), pro bono work (112th of 200 firms in 2011), and associate satisfaction (115th of 126 firms on our 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey) are areas ripe for improvement.
Still, there is one place where Drinker has stood out from the crowd. While other firms were deferring first–year associate start dates during the economic downturn, Drinker came up with an innovative training program, in which associates would start in the fall, as always, but spend their first months largely in a classroom setting learning the ropes from partners and other instructors. They wouldn’t be expected to bill work during that time, and in effect, the cost of training was passed from clients to the firm (no small thing for either party during a recession). The program was such a hit that Drinker continues it to this day.
Drinker has a sizable presence in the nation’s capital—with 97 lawyers, it was the forty–eighth largest D.C. office in 2011. But it is the New York office that has the most compelling—and heart–stopping—back story. It was based on the eighty–ninth floor of One World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. After a tense 14 hours, all lawyers and staff were accounted for and safe.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 74 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 74 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 70 | 6 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 112 | 2 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 158 | 8 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 115 | 28 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 24 | 3 | Summer programs |
In the News
The Legal's Diverse Attorneys of the Year — 2013
The Legal Staff : The Legal Intelligencer : April 16, 2013
The Legal's editorial staff recently set out to select our Diverse Attorneys of the Year, in which we highlight the achievements of some of the state's minority attorneys. Every two years, in an effort to illuminate the efforts of members of the legal profession across the state, we name a new group of attorneys who have done remarkable work in the prior two years.
Boston Bomb Probe Will Be 'Fast-Moving and Intense'
Sheri Qualters and Amanda Bronstad : The National Law Journal : April 16, 2013
The investigation into the Boston Marathon bombings was in full swing Tuesday, as President Obama addressed reporters following briefings by top officials including Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and FBI Director Robert Mueller III.
Fracking Contract Dispute Can Proceed, Superior Court Rules
Jeff Mordock : Delaware Law Weekly : April 10, 2013
The Delaware Superior Court has permitted a contract dispute between two fracking companies to proceed, denying the defendants' motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
MOVERS
: The National Law Journal : April 8, 2013
Heath Rosenblat joins Drinker Biddle & Reath's corporate restructuring practice group as counsel to the New York office. Plus more law firm movers in this week's column.
Philadelphia's Largest Law Firms Rekindle Bar Association Bond
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : April 5, 2013
Philadelphia's largest law firms may compete over the same business, but they share the same problems and concerns too when it comes to managing their own affairs.
Chicago-based Vedder Price Opens San Francisco Office
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 4, 2013
Patton Boggs, Vedder Price Latest Am Law Firms to Open New Offices
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 4, 2013
On the heels of K&L Gates and Fox Rothschild entering new cities earlier in the week, Patton Boggs and Vedder Price launch locations in Dubai and San Francisco, respectively.
Drinker Biddle Grows Revenue 1.7 Percent, PPP Flat
Zack Needles : The Legal Intelligencer : April 4, 2013
Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle & Reath grew its revenue by about 1.7 percent and its profits per equity partner (PPP) by about 0.7 percent in 2012 in what executive partner Andrew C. Kassner called a "solid year" for the firm.
Who Saw the U.S. Marshals' Security Review of Courthouse?
Jeff Mordock : Delaware Law Weekly : April 3, 2013
A 2012 U.S. Marshals Service report, which assessed the safety of the New Castle County Courthouse, was shared with the judiciary and the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security, but other key stakeholders in court security such as judges and the Delaware Attorney General's Office were not provided with the report, according to sources affiliated with both groups.
- Adams and Reese
- Akerman Senterfitt
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Ashurst
- Baker & McKenzie
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Carlton Fields
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morrison & Foerster
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Richards, Layton & Finger
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
