Firm Profiles

While the 660–plus lawyers of Proskauer Rose handle a wide range of legal issues, the firm’s marquee practice has long been employment law. Proskauer was a finalist for The American Lawyer’s 2012 Labor and Employment Litigation Department of the Year award for its work on behalf of clients including Time Warner Cable Inc. and the McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc. Proskauer’s sports law department is also a signature practice: The firm is primary labor counsel to all five national sports leagues (baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer) and handles everything from collective bargaining agreements and TV rights to legal issues involving stadium construction and snack bar sales.

Founded in 1875 in New York, Proskauer—which ranked thirty–eighth on the 2011 Am Law 100 with $645 in revenue—now counts 160 equity partners and has offices in 12 locations, including Hong Kong, London, Paris, São Paulo, Brazil, and Beijing. Health care law, entertainment law, bankruptcy, and tax are other focal points for the firm.

In nonfinancial metrics Proskauer turns in an uneven performance. Summer associates, for example, give the firm good marks, placing it twelfth of 108 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 satisfaction survey. But full–time associates aren’t as quick with the praise, ranking Proskauer eightieth of 137 firms in 2010 and seventy–sixth of 126 firms in 2011. Nor is diversity the firm’s strongest suit: It ranked one–hundreth of 194 firms in 2011, with minorities making up just over 5 percent of U.S. partners. The news is better on the pro bono front, however: Proskauer placed forty–fifth of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report, with lawyers averaging nearly 63 hours per year.

Proskauer was also one of relatively few firms to see its gross revenues inch upward during the recession, though it did let go of several dozen associates. Profits per partner, which did a small bit of see–sawing between $1.4 and $1.5 million during 2008–10, jumped a solid 9 percent to $1.7 million in 2011. “It was by far the strongest year we’ve ever had from every measure,” says firm chair Joseph Leccese. Among the highlights were, no surprise, labor and sports work. The firm represented Major League Baseball on its new collective bargaining agreement, worked on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bankruptcy, and assisted the Pacific–12 in the creation of a TV network dedicated to broadcasting the conference’s athletic contests.

—Updated as of 1/1/12