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
Testing Patent Rule's Boundaries Doesn't Warrant Fee Sanctions
Gina Passarella : The Legal Intelligencer : April 19, 2013
A patent infringement plaintiff was allowed to test the limits of local patent rules, even if unsuccessful, a federal judge in Pittsburgh has ruled in denying defendant Nintendo's motion for attorney fees.
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : April 19, 2013
Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart opens a Richmond office, the firm's 44th location; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher takes a practice group leader from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton; and Hunton & Williams welcomes back a partner in Charlotte. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Two Partners Leave Firms to Form Own Boutique
Christine Simmons : New York Law Journal : April 18, 2013
Neil Binder and Wendy Schwartz, lately of Richards Kibbe & Orbe and Reed Smith respectively, this month opened Binder & Schwartz, a litigation and investigation boutique.
Mark Zemelman
Lisa Holton : The Recorder : April 18, 2013
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Kaiser's GC says it's a fascinating time to be in health care.
2013 Roundtable Discussion on Diversity Issues
: The Legal Intelligencer : April 16, 2013
The editorial staff of The Legal Intelligencer understands that diversity is a continuing concern in the legal community. This discussion is a follow-up to one we held in 2011 that suggested concrete solutions for the issues the legal profession faces in recruiting, hiring and retaining minority attorneys.
Roundtable Panelists
: The Legal Intelligencer : April 16, 2013
Tobey M. Daluz is a partner in Ballard Spahr's Wilmington, Del., office. She handles corporate restructuring, workouts and general bankruptcy litigation. She represents debtors, secured and unsecured creditors, insurers, indenture trustees and official committees in Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases.
The Legal's Diverse Attorneys of the Year — 2013
The Legal Staff : The Legal Intelligencer : April 16, 2013
The Legal's editorial staff recently set out to select our Diverse Attorneys of the Year, in which we highlight the achievements of some of the state's minority attorneys. Every two years, in an effort to illuminate the efforts of members of the legal profession across the state, we name a new group of attorneys who have done remarkable work in the prior two years.
Apple Loses Round in Patent Case in Pa. Federal Court
Saranac Hale Spencer : The Legal Intelligencer : April 12, 2013
In a suit filed by SightSound Technologies, a General Electric-owned company, alleging patent infringement by Apple, a federal judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania clamped down on what evidence Apple would be able to add to support its non-infringement and invalidity defenses after the deadline for entering exhibits passed.
Asia Deal Digest: April 11, 2013
Jessica Seah : The Asian Lawyer : April 11, 2013
*WongPartnership advises Singapore's Changi Airport on new $968 million terminal*Suncorp Group taps King & Wood Mallesons for $500 million bond issue*Allens on sale of Lend Lease Group's Australian aged care business to New York hedge fund
Newsmakers
: Texas Lawyer : April 8, 2013
- Anderson Kill & Olick
- Arent Fox
- Arthur Cox
- Baker & McKenzie
- Chadbourne & Parke
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Heller Ehrman
- Howrey
- Irwin Mitchell
- Jenner & Block
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Perkins Coie
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Slaughter and May
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
