Firm Profiles

Orrick didn’t build California, it just helped finance the construction. From putting together the companies that formed Pacific Gas & Electric, to helping Firemen’s Fund Insurance find a way to pay off claims from the devastating 1906 earthquake, to preparing and defending the bonds that financed the Golden Gate Bridge, Orrick was present at the creation of the Golden State. But the firm’s ambition outgrew its status as the West’s leading pubic finance firm. With the selection of employment partner Ralph Baxter as chairman in 1990, Orrick set off on a massive expansion campaign, one that led it to 23 offices, billion dollar annual revenues, and a ubiquitous O marketing campaign more typical of a client than a stuffy bond firm.

Baxter, who steps down in 2013, is the most influential Orrick partner whose name isn’t on the firm’s door. On his watch, he raised the firm’s profile, maneuvered until New York and Paris were its second and third largest offices, and became famous for mergers that might have been. Over the decades, he explored combining with a litany of national and New York firms, conversations that sometimes ended with lateral partner hires. It’s easy to see why a union might look tempting: Long a leader in structured finance, Orrick was hit hard during the recession. Between November 2008 and March 2009, the firm laid off 140 associates and counsel—a staggering, and sobering, 20 percent of its nonpartner ranks. But even during the downturn, Orrick regularly appeared on The American Lawyer’s A–List, which homes in on the nation’s premier law firms by looking at both economic (revenue per lawyer) and noneconomic measures (diversity, pro bono work, and associate satisfaction levels), though it slipped off in 2011.

In our 2011 Diversity Scorecard, Orrick ranked twenty–third of 194 firms (with nearly 20 percent of its U.S.based attorneys identifying themselves as minorities). And it did even better on our 2011 Pro Bono Report, with lawyers averaging around 95 hours of volunteer legal work.

Orrick boasts a highly regarded litigation group as well. It earned honorable mentions in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Department of the Year competition in 2012, 2010, and 2006 (the contest is held every two years). Some of the clients for whom Orrick has obtained key wins include MGA Entertainment, Inc.; EchoStar Corporation; and Facebook, Inc.

—Updated as of 1/1/12