Firm Profiles

It’s the biggest lobby shop in Washington according to The Influence 50 and with revenues of $88 million, second only to Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in revenues. But if it and its chairman Tom Boggs, son of a House Majority Leader and brother of an NPR commentator, got famous for influencing public policy, Patton Boggs has grown into a world–class law firm, too. Litigation, which accounts for some 40 percent of its revenue, is its biggest practice but clients with regulatory issues in areas that include antitrust, energy, food and drug, government contracts, health care, tax, telecommunications, trade, and transportation turn to the firm whose lawyer bench includes many veterans of government service.

In June 2010, the firm acquired the Breaux Lott Leadership Group, a bipartisan lobbying firm led by former U.S. senators John Breaux and Trent Lott. That deal didn’t just bring the firm a pair of influential Washington insiders, but also clients that included Chevron Corporation, Citigroup, and FedEx Corp. Patton Boggs, of course, is no stranger to A–list lobbying clients, having built relationships with the likes of AT&T Services Inc., Bloomberg L.P., and Bristol–Meyers Squibb Co.

Like its D.C.–based peers, Patton Boggs has a strong record on pro bono work. The firm requires associates to perform a minimum of 100 hours per year—far exceeding the average annual pro bono workload at most firms—and it ranked twenty–fifth of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report.

Patton Boggs’s only overseas offices are in the Middle East, where it has been a longtime legal adviser to regional clients, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. The firm has an office in Abu Dhabi and attorneys in Dubai. In 2003, Patton Boggs became the first U.S. firm to open an office in Qatar. Today, lawyers based in Doha advise on trade and infrastructure projects, negotiate military and security agreements, and mediate international disputes—of the business variety, that is.

—Updated as of 1/1/12