Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Reed Smith LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Reed Smith
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 1,468
- Gross Revenues: $1,013,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $690,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,080,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
A long list of mergers starting in the late 1970s but picking up steam in the past decade, has propelled Reed Smith into the upper echelon of law firms. A full–service firm, it is best known, perhaps, for product liability work: Reed Smith represents nearly all of the top players in the medical device and pharmaceutical industries. The firm won The American Lawyer’s Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year contest in 2010 and was a finalist in the two previous competitions in 2006 and 2008. It has also been an enthusiastic proponent of alternative fee arrangements. Founded in 1877, Reed Smith has grown in recent years due to three large mergers since 2003, each with a firm of between 130 and 250 attorneys. But the big roster has had consequences: Reed Smith regularly ranks outside top 100 firms on revenue per lawyer. However, profits per partner have typically fared better.
Reed Smith’s roots in Pittsburgh, its ancestral home, go deep. It has represented a string of hometown clients, including United States Steel Corporation and H.J. Heinz Company. In 2011, Penn State University retained the firm to advise its board of trustees in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the school. But Reed Smith has long looked beyond the city’s—and the country’s—borders. It was an early entrant in the Middle East, establishing a foothold in the United Arab Emirates in 1978, and claims to be the only U.S. firm with an office in Greece (thanks to its 2007 merger with Richards Butler, which also expanded its reach in Europe and the Middle East). Like many of its peers, Reed Smith has made a push into China, opening a Beijing office in 2008, and a Shanghai outpost in 2011. The firm also has a sizable Hong Kong office.
In noneconomic metrics, the firm scores middle–of–the–pack numbers. It finished 106th of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report, with attorneys averaging about 36 hours of nonpaying work. On the magazine’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard, the firm ranked sixty–second of 194 firms (nearly 15 percent of its U.S. lawyers are minorities). The news was a bit grimmer, however, on associate satisfaction: Reed Smith finished ninety–sixth of 126 firms on our 2011 survey.
—Updated 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 19 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 19 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 12 | no change | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 106 | 14 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 62 | no change | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 96 | 13 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 53 | no change | Summer programs |
In the News
Law Firms and Laterals Keep Houston Market Humming
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : May 13, 2013
Taken together, Katten Muchin Rosenman's recent move into Houston and a spate of lateral hires shows that a boom in energy-related work continues to attract new Am Law firms to Space City while motivating those already doing business there to bulk up.
Daily Decision Service Alert: Vol. 22, No. 92 — May 13, 2013
: New Jersey Law Journal : May 13, 2013
Daily decision alert.
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 10, 2013
Alston & Bird adds four partners to its capital markets department on the East Coast; the vice-chair of Greenberg Traurig's pharmaceutical, medical device, and health care litigation practice has left for Jones Day; and Locke Lord expands its Hong Kong office with five new attorneys. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Law Firms Looking Closer at Pricing Analysis
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : May 10, 2013
After a few years of collecting financial data and applying project management techniques to the legal process, law firms are beginning to dedicate resources to pricing analysis.
Caperton Saga Leaves 15-Year Imprint On Duo
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : May 8, 2013
Firms Begin to Eye Pricing Analysis
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : May 7, 2013
After a few years of collecting financial data and applying project management techniques to the legal process, law firms are beginning to dedicate resources to pricing analysis.
Justices OK Employer's Third-Party Claims Waiver
Ben Present : The Legal Intelligencer : May 7, 2013
A disclaimer in which workers for a security company waived any right to sue their employer's third-party clients can stand, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 7, 2013
Edwards Wildman Palmer expands its newly launched Miami office; a Department of Justice lawyer joins Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C.; and Chadbourne & Parke loses a project finance partner in New York. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Clarification
: New York Law Journal : May 6, 2013
Firms Begin to Eye Pricing Analysis
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : May 6, 2013
After a few years of collecting financial data and applying project management techniques to the legal process, law firms are beginning to dedicate resources to pricing analysis.
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