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
On the Move
: The Recorder : May 3, 2013
A weekly report of lawyer moves and law firm changes. Keep abreast of where movers and shakers are going and what they're doing.
Lawyer Grows Close to Client on Death Row for 25 Years
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
William Ernest Kuenzel has gone back to court time after time since his 1988 conviction in a so-far unsuccessful campaign to prove his innocence. Now, David Kochman, a commercial litigation associate at Reed Smith, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in what may be his best - and only - chance to hold off the execution.
Reed Smith Creates Extranet for Clients to Track Time, Budget
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : May 3, 2013
As the call for alternative fee arrangements morphed from lip service to something that might actually become a part of law firm business models, Reed Smith head of strategy Michael Pollack wanted to get out ahead of the game and have a plan in place before clients had to do the asking.
Lawyer Grows Close to Client on Death Row for 25 Years
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
William Ernest Kuenzel has gone back to court time after time since his 1988 conviction in a so-far unsuccessful campaign to prove his innocence. Now, David Kochman, a commercial litigation associate at Reed Smith, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in what may be his best - and only - chance to hold off the execution.
Reed Smith Lawyer, Death Row Client Forge Close Bond
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
William Ernest Kuenzel has gone back to court time after time since his 1988 conviction in a so-far unsuccessful campaign to prove his innocence. Now, David Kochman, a commercial litigation associate at Reed Smith, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court in what may be his best—and only—chance to hold off the execution.
White & Case, Fox Rothschild Steer Coda Into Chapter 11
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 2, 2013
The two firms are advising Coda Holdings, a struggling Los Angeles-based electric car manufacturer, as it drove into bankruptcy this week in Delaware. Coda joins the ranks of other ailing green auto industry players, including Fisker Automotive, which recently hired Kirkland & Ellis as restructuring counsel.
FTC Posts Guidance for Kids' Online Privacy Rule
Catherine Dunn : Corporate Counsel : May 2, 2013
With two months to go until companies are expected to comply with the updated Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rule, the Federal Trade Commission on April 25 released a highly anticipated guidance document.
Big Wins
Jan Wolfe : The American Lawyer : May 1, 2013
Award Requires Same Dollars for Cash, In-Kind Redemption
Brendan Pierson : New York Law Journal : April 30, 2013
A hedge fund that has been ordered by an arbitrator to redeem its former partner's investment owes the ex-partner the same dollar amount whether it is paid in cash or in the form of stocks, a state appeals panel has ruled, reversing a Commercial Division judge.
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