Firm Profiles

While it traces its roots to 1902 and a small West Virginia office, Steptoe & Johnson LLP would truly come of age in 1945, when it moved its headquarters to Washington, D.C. There, under the leadership of Colonel Louis Johnson (who would later serve as secretary of Defense under Harry Truman), the firm quickly made its mark in regulatory law, counting manufacturers, chemical companies, and transportation carriers among its key early clients. It would also branch out into transactional and litigation practices, and become well known for its tax and international trade work.

By 2011, Steptoe had the fifth largest firm in D.C., with just over 300 lawyers (among its partners and counsel are a number of former government officials). But it is active in other markets as well, with U.S. offices in Century City, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Phoenix, and international offices in Beijing, Brussels, and London. The firm’s practice mix is familiar, ranging from tax, government contracts, and intellectual property, to antitrust, insurance, and telecommunications. Its best known lawyer is white–collar specialist Reid Weingarten a veteran of high–profile trials and investigations—and a close friend of Attorney General Eric Holder.

Steptoe gets middle–of–the–road marks on diversity, coming in eighty–sixth of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard (just over 12 percent of U.S.based lawyers are minorities). Midlevel associates, however, have given the firm better than average numbers on our satisfaction surveys: The firm placed forty–ninth of 126 firms in 2011, and fifty–second of 137 firms in 2010. On it pro bono commitment, Steptoe fares better still, placing twenty–seventh of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report. Lawyers averaged nearly 80 hours of nonpaying legal work, and their efforts include work on some unique projects such as the firm’s signature Action for Children of Trafficking program. Since 2007, the firm’s attorneys have been advising victims of international child trafficking, helping them to gain refuge in the United States and start a new life.

—Updated as of 1/1/12