Firm Profiles

In a day when intellectual property boutiques are a disappearing breed, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner continues to do well. It was named The American Lawyer’s IP Litigation Department of the Year in 2012 (a title it earned in 2006 as well)—and little wonder: The firm has won key patent victories for leading players in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries (including Eli Lilly and Company, a client for decades), and has become a go–to firm for tech companies bringing matters before the International Trade Commission. With some 400 lawyers—many with Ph.D.s and advanced science degrees—Finnegan handles almost every type of IP case imaginable, though patent work makes up about 80 percent of its docket.

Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1965, Finnegan regularly ranks as one of the city’s 20 largest offices, with more than 200 lawyers based in the nation’s capital (about 50 more work in nearby Reston, Virginia). The firm has five U.S. offices in all—including outposts in tech centers like Palo Alto and Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1988 it became one of the first patent firms to open an office in Tokyo, and since then has added to its international footprint with outposts in Brussels, Shanghai, and Taipei.

Finnegan’s lawyers are among the most diverse to be found at any law firm, IP specialty shop or otherwise. With minorities comprising about 21 percent of its U.S.based lawyers, and more than 10 percent of the partnership, Finnegan ranked fifteenth of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard. The firm scores well on the pro bono front as well: It placed sixty–fifth of 200 firms on our 2011 pro bono tally, with the average Finnegan attorney putting in more than 50 hours of volunteer legal work for the year.

—Updated as of 1/1/12