Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Latham & Watkins LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Latham & Watkins
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 2,033
- Gross Revenues: $2,226,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $1,095,000
- Profits Per Partner: $2,440,000
- Year Over Year Change: 1
Latham & Watkins always has a plan. Founded in Los Angeles by a pair of tax and labor lawyers during the Great Depression, the firm now has more than 2,000 lawyers spread across 31 offices. It was one of the first of the regional law firms to go national. Unlike many competitors, Latham solved its New York challenge early by absorbing much of the crumbling Mudge Rose firm and building the new outpost into the firm’s largest office. The firm proved nimble, surviving the death of core California clients and the colossal explosion of its largest client, Drexel Burnham; over time the Drexel diaspora became a rich source of new clients across the financial sector.
Latham has spent the last two decades becoming a global player: It’s now the tenth–largest on our Global 100 chart, building on its strengths in project finance, high–yield debt, and private equity. About 30 percent of its lawyers are outside the United States. With about 165 lawyers, London is the largest of the 19 non–U.S. offices.
Latham’s tone is famously collaborative and inclusive: Its associates committee has a say in partner promotions; proposed laterals jet from office to office on preoffer vetting missions. There is a fist inside the velvet glove, however. During the gory recessions of 1991 and 2008, Latham was among the first to fire associates. Despite the cuts, the firm consistently scores well on The American Lawyer’s annual Midlevel Associates Survey—lawyers particularly prize the firmwide training “academies.”
From the start of the Am Law 100 rankings in 1986, Latham has ranked in the top 20 on gross revenue and profits per partner. (Thirty percent of its revenue comes from litigation.) And the firm has been a fixture on The American Lawyer’s A–List, our ranking of elite firms based on revenue, pro bono effort, associate satisfaction, and lawyer diversity. The firm made a conscious decision to improve its pro bono record in the mid–1990s. As one partner put it: “Everyone here is an A student, not a C student. If [we’re] … going to do something, we need to put our trademark excellence on it.” Using goals, measurements, and encouragement from the top, the firm developed a top–flight pro bono operation. It now ranks twentieth in the nation on The American Lawyer’s annual pro bono roster. For Latham, it’s all part of executing another plan.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 3 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 3 | 1 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 5 | no change | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 10 | 4 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 21 | 16 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 49 | 17 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 11 | 15 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 65 | 3 | Summer programs |
In the News
Kasowitz Launches in L.A. with Insurance Vet Oshinsky
Sara Randazzo : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
In a year that has seen Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman falter in Northern California, the litigation shop is building out its insurance coverage practice with a pair of hires in Los Angeles from Jenner & Block, including Jerold Oshinsky, who has helped shape legal theories benefiting insurance policyholders.
Kirkland Reps S.F.'s Vista on $906M Buy of Software Maker
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Simpson Helps Yahoo, Tumblr Connect
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is advising Yahoo in connection with its largest acquisition in a decade: the $1.1 billion cash purchase of blogging and social media platform Tumblr. Tumblr, meanwhile, is represented by Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian.
Three Deals Add Up to More M&A Work for Kirkland
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Kirkland & Ellis is advising longtime private equity client Vista Equity Partners on its nearly $1 billion purchase of cybersecurity software maker Websense, while fellow private equity firm Landmark Partners is relying on the firm to handle a $425 million secondary acquisition of a legacy energy portfolio owned by HM Capital. Kirkland is also advising the world's largest consulting firm, Accenture, on its $316 million buy of digital marketing startup Acquity Group.
Kasowitz Launches Los Angeles Office
Sara Randazzo : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Latham, Davis Polk Lead as Actavis Buys Generic Rival
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 20, 2013
Generic drug maker Actavis has agreed to pay $5 billion in stock and assumed $3.5 billion in debt to acquire Irish rival Warner Chilcott. The deal comes less than a month after the collapse of a tentative deal that would have seen Actavis sold to Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $13 billion.
Latham Fights Disqualification In Freight Rail Class Action
Zoe Tillman : The National Law Journal : May 20, 2013
Latham & Watkins is fighting an attempt to disqualify the firm as lead trial counsel for Union Pacific Railroad, a defendant in multidistrict litigation over freight rail fuel surcharges.
Kirkland Cleans Up on PE Shop's $1.4 Billion Buy
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 15, 2013
Kirkland & Ellis clinched its latest large M&A deal on Wednesday as private equity client Pamplona Capital Management acquired the largest laundry equipment service provider in the U.S., as well as a leading automobile tire inflation service.
Kasowitz Makes Silicon Valley Hire
Julia Love : The Recorder : May 14, 2013
Patent litigator Steven Carlson is leaving Fish & Richardson to lead the Silicon Valley office of Kasowitz, arriving as the firm rebuilds in the Valley. Earlier this month, the head of the office, Douglas Lumish, jumped to Latham & Watkins with two other Silicon Valley-based partners and a New York-based partner.
Surging U.S. IPO Market Yields Gains for Cooley, Hunton
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 14, 2013
U.S. companies have already raised $16.8 billion through initial public offerings so far this year and several Am Law 100 firms are reaping the benefits.
- Akerman Senterfitt
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- Bingham McCutchen
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- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
- Brown Rudnick
- Burr & Forman
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- Carlton Fields
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- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
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- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickinson Wright
- DLA Piper
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- Dreier LLP
- Freehills
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- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Greenberg Traurig
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- Harris Beach
- Haynes and Boone
- Herbert Smith
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- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Hughes Hubbard & Reed
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
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- Kilpatrick Townsend
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- 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
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- Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
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- Perkins Coie
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Proskauer Rose
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- Reed Smith
- Richards, Layton & Finger
- Robinson & Cole
- Ropes & Gray
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
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- Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
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