Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 899
- Gross Revenues: $908,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $1,010,000
- Profits Per Partner: $2,080,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
They took off with Los Angeles, three middle–aged lawyers who opened up shop in 1951, covering the core California legal food groups: employment, real estate, and litigation. They added corporate and tax along the way and today Paul Hastings’s 900 lawyers are spread across 18 offices on three continents. They do well—profits per partner hover around $2 million—and they do good. Recent years have seen the firm dramatically improve in key noneconomic measures. Associate satisfaction—which had ranked 103rd on The American Lawyer’s 2008 Midlevel Associates Survey—ranked second on our 2010 tally and sixth in 2011. Meanwhile, Paul Hastings has morphed into an industry leader in pro bono, placing second of 200 firms on our 2011 Pro Bono report (with attorneys averaging a stratospheric 130 hours of nonpaying work). Diversity ranks well above average, too: Nearly 20 percent of the firm’s U.S. attorneys are minorities. Paul Hastings was named to The American Lawyer’s A–List—which looks at financial and nonfinancial metrics to identify the country’s most elite firms—in 2010 and 2011.
They haven’t abandoned their roots. Paul Hastings was named The American Lawyer’s Labor and Employment Litigation Department of the Year in 2010 and 2004, and was a finalist for the title in 2006 and 2008 (the contest is held every two years). It’s a bi–coastal real estate power, having absorbed an Am Law Second Hundred firm in 2000 with a lucrative New York practice. And it continues to build on its early push into the Asia–Pacific region, opening a Tokyo office in 1988 and expanding its footprint to Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing in the early 2000s. Paul Hastings did lay off several dozen associates during the recession, but didn’t see the dramatic declines in revenues and profitability that many of its peers did.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 24 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 24 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 30 | 6 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 2 | 1 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 2 | 5 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 20 | 6 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 2 | 4 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | NR | N/A | Summer programs |
In the News
Asia Deal Digest: April 25, 2013
Jessica Seah : The Asian Lawyer : April 25, 2013
* Allen & Overy on the Philippines' largest-ever stock offering* AXA turns to S&C for a big China auto insurance push* DLA and Amarchand guiding Etihad in to land a Jet Airways stake
Nosal Found Guilty in Trade Secret Case
Vanessa Blum : The Recorder : April 24, 2013
The former Korn/Ferry recruiter was convicted of all the charges he faced, including violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The China Option
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : April 22, 2013
Facing the tough job market at home, a growing number of U.S. law grads are heading to China for LL.M.s and hopefully more opportunities. But the grass isn't always greener.
Zynga Rival Fires Back in Trade Secret Suit
Max Taves : The Recorder : April 18, 2013
Asia Deal Digest: April 18, 2013
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : April 18, 2013
* Herbert Smith Freehills guides the winning consortium on a $5.3 billion Aussie port lease deal* Singapore's Stamford Law advises on a $470 million reverse merger* Simpson Thacher and Davis Polk on a $650 million acquisition in India
Jackson Lewis stalwart leaps to Littler Mendelson
Meredith Hobbs : Daily Report : April 17, 2013
Labor lawyer Jeffrey Mintz (above) has moved from the nation's second-largest labor and employment firm, Jackson Lewis, to the largest, Littler Mendelson.
Atlanta Legal Aid targets newcomers for fundraising campaign
Meredith Hobbs : Daily Report : April 12, 2013
The Atlanta Legal Aid Society on Thursday kicked off its annual fundraising campaign for the private bar in an economy where funding from other sources has declined and the number of low-income people needing legal help has expanded.
Gary Kennedy
Richard Acello : The National Law Journal : April 11, 2013
The American Airlines GC says his legal team flies from "one crisis to another" in the ever-changing air travel business.
Removability of Federal Class Action Claims From State Court
Jodi Kleinick and Mor Wetzler : New York Law Journal : April 11, 2013
In their Securities Law column, Jodi Kleinick, a partner at Paul Hastings, and Mor Wetzler, an associate at the firm, write that for decades, the volume of securities class actions has grown, and while initially most were filed in federal court, the number of securities class actions filed in state court has increased steadily and in 2010 surpassed the number of federal court filings.
Hacking law tested in criminal trial
Vanessa Blum : The Recorder : April 9, 2013
He won his case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and made new law in the process.But David Nosal's legal odyssey, which started in 2005, isn't done yet.
- Andrews Kurth
- Arent Fox
- Ashurst
- Bingham McCutchen
- Bracewell & Giuliani
- Chadbourne & Parke
- Covington & Burling
- Crowell & Moring
- Denton Wilde Sapte
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Freehills
- Goulston & Storrs
- Heller Ehrman
- Herbert Smith
- Holland & Knight
- Howrey
- Husch Blackwell
- Irwin Mitchell
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Katten Muchin Rosenman
- Keker & Van Nest
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- King & Spalding
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Lathrop & Gage
- Locke Lord
- Loeb & Loeb
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
- Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
- Morrison & Foerster
- Munger, Tolles & Olson
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Patton Boggs
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Porter & Hedges
- Proskauer Rose
- Ropes & Gray
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Slaughter and May
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
- Steptoe & Johnson LLP
- Sullivan & Worcester
- Thompson Hine
- Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard
- Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- White & Case
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
