Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Goodwin Procter LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Goodwin Procter
- Designation: Boston
- Head Count: 777
- Gross Revenues: $715,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $920,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,515,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
One of Boston’s old–line law firms, Goodwin Procter has seen much expansion since the late 1990s, tripling in size and growing its presence in Asia and London. A full–service firm, Goodwin focuses on technology, intellectual property, life sciences, private equity, real estate, and financial services. Its white–collar defense practice is well known, too.
Yet Goodwin, which was founded in 1912, has also seen challenges in recent years. Its transactional practice was hit hard during the economic crisis: and the firm laid off more than three dozen associates in February 2009. Even an uptick in Goodwin’s financials in 2011—helped by gains in technology, private equity, and corporate work— was due in part to a decreased equity partner roster (several of those departures coming from high–profile defections to rival firms during 2011). A more positive note was the firm’s transactional practice in Asia (based out of Goodwin’s Hong Kong office), which benefited from client investments in China. Ironically, the financial crisis triggered a steady stream of work for Goodwin’s litigation department, which has handled a stream of lawsuits brought against client Countrywide Financial Corporation (accusing the mortgage giant of engaging in misleading sales and marketing practices in the run–up to the housing meltdown). “At various times we’ve predicted that the pipeline [for those cases] is 18 months to two years out,” the firm’s chair, Regina Pisa, said in early 2012. “I think those cases have at least two to three year’s life left in them.”
While Goodwin’s financials may be getting a jump start, its noneconomic metrics still wait their turn. The firm has turned in middling numbers on some key surveys by The American Lawyer. It ranked 104th of 126 firms on our Midlevel Associates Survey in 2011, and with minorities comprising just 4 percent of the U.S. partner roster, Goodwin finished 110th (of 194 firms) on the magazine’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard. The firm’s pro bono score was better, but not awe–inspiring: With lawyers averaging a bit over 54 hours a year of nonpaying work, Goodwin finished seventy–first among the Am Law 200 firms.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 39 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 39 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 45 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 71 | 32 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 119 | 9 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 104 | 14 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 50 | 22 | Summer programs |
In the News
Amici organizations and lawyers in the DOMA case
: The National Law Journal : March 13, 2013
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : March 12, 2013
K&L Gates expands its energy and insurance practices while adding two partners in Hong Kong; Adobe Systems's general counsel moves to Sidley Austin; and a former assistant chief at the Department of Justice joins Paul Hastings. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Veteran D.C. Lawyer in the GC Spot at Georgetown
Lisa Shuchman : Corporate Counsel : March 11, 2013
Georgetown University has tapped Lisa Brown, a former senior government official, to serve as the university's vice president and general counsel.
Departure of London Tax Group Doesn't Faze Dorsey's Leadership
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : March 4, 2013
With new managing partner Ken Cutler preparing to jet to London as part of a firmwide confidence-building tour, Dorsey & Whitney—whose gross revenue dropped for the fifth straight year in 2012—lost its tax practice Monday in the U.K. capital to local commercial litigation boutique Hage Aaronson. Nonetheless, Cutler insists the Minneapolis-based Am Law 100 firm is poised for a comeback.
On the Move
: The Recorder : March 1, 2013
A weekly report of lawyer moves and law firm changes. Keep abreast of where movers and shakers are going and what they're doing.
Deals & Suits
: Corporate Counsel : March 1, 2013
First Circuit upholds relicensing of nuclear plant in face of state challenge
Sheri Qualters : The National Law Journal : February 27, 2013
A federal appeals court has affirmed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's relicensing of a Massachusetts nuclear power plant over the state's claim that the agency failed to consider lessons from the Fukushima, Japan, radiological accident.
Supreme Court ruling jeopardizes encyclopedia lawsuit
: Legal Times : February 25, 2013
Several months after losing a motion for summary judgment, Encyclopaedia Britannica is facing another possible setback in its legal malpractice lawsuit against Dickstein Shapiro.
Goodwin, Gibson Advise on Xoom's IPO
Joshua Sisco : The Recorder : February 15, 2013
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : February 15, 2013
Kirkland & Ellis makes an M&A push on the West Coast; Venable adds four lawyers; and Greenberg Traurig loses four partners, including a finance duo to Troutman Sanders in New York. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
- Adams and Reese
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- Anderson Kill & Olick
- Arthur Cox
- Baker & McKenzie
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Morrison & Foerster
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
