Firm Profiles

Today’s Mayer Brown is the progeny of three firms, on three continents, that came together during the first decade of the 2000s. In 2002 Chicago–based Mayer, Brown & Platt merged with the English firm Rowe & Maw—a combination that merged, in turn, with Hong Kong-based Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM) in 2008. Together the firms, all with roots that go back to the nineteenth century, created an industry giant.

While Mayer Brown’s roughly 1,600 lawyers are based in 20 offices, about half are in the U.S. with Chicago, its biggest. The legacy–JSM outposts remain strong in Asia, with offices in Bangkok, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. A Singapore office that opened in September 2011 is the most recent addition, and has a practice focused on energy and project finance, as well as international arbitration.

As one would expect from a firm of Mayer Brown’s size and reach, its practice covers virtually all legal disciplines, including banking, bankruptcy, international trade, employment law, environmental law, intellectual property, real estate, and tax. Mayer Brown’s litigation practice—which contributes about 30 percent of the firm’s revenue—earned a finalist spot in The American Lawyer’s 2012 Litigation Department of the Year contest, thanks to a string of successes including U.S. Supreme Court advocacy for AT&T Mobility LLC, copyright defense for Google’s YouTube, and work for Medtronic, Inc, Quicken Loans Inc., and Cargill Inc.

The firm has seen some rougher patches as well. The recession hit Mayer Brown relatively hard, forcing several rounds of attorney layoffs (substantially trimming the firm’s peak head count of 1,801 in 2008), and two consecutive years of revenue drops before a swing upward in 2011. In the midst of the broad economic downturn, the firm had internal struggles that spilled over into public view including a succession struggle and some prominent partner defections. Those dust–ups have left the headlines.

In other, nonfinancial metrics, Mayer Brown ranks in the middle of the pack, placing eighty–fourth of 126 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey and ninety–sixth of 194 firms on the magazine’s Diversity Scorecard 2011. Its pro bono scores, however, were higher: The firm ranked fifty–second out of 200 firms in 2011, with attorneys racking up an average of 60 hours on pro bono matters. With 1,600 lawyers, Mayer Brown is not just doing good, but doing a lot of it.

—Updated as of 1/1/12