Firm Profiles

It would be a mistake to think of Troutman Sanders simply as a big old Atlanta firm. The description is true, of course—it was founded more than a century ago and has scores of lawyers—but it is far from complete. This Am Law 100 firm has a footprint that reaches across the country to California and Oregon and, indeed, across the globe to Hong Kong and Shanghai (where Troutman opened offices in 1997 and 2007, respectively, to assist clients with cross–border transactions).

Troutman also boasts a relatively large office in the nation’s capital, where its lawyer head count (around 100) puts it among the top 50 or so D.C. outposts. That it would have a significant presence in Washington is no surprise, given practice areas that include energy and regulatory work. Indeed, Troutman is well–known in the nuclear power industry, having handled licensing, regulatory, and litigation matters for a host of plant operators. It is also active in aircraft leasing and financing, counting more than a dozen U.S. and foreign air carriers as clients.

While Troutman’s gross revenue puts it in The Am Law 100 with breathing space, both the firm’s profits per partner and revenue per lawyer place well outside the top 100. Troutman also falls below average on diversity (126th of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard, with minorities constituting just 10 percent of U.S. –based lawyers and less than 6 percent of U.S. partners) and pro bono (109th of 200 firms on our 2011 survey, with lawyers averaging some 31 hours a year of volunteer legal work). Associate morale hasn’t topped the charts, either. Troutman finished ninety–first of 126 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey, and ninety–fifth of 137 firms in 2010, proving that, for junior lawyers anyway, a big old Atlanta firm can be a lot like a big old Manhattan firm.

—Updated as of 1/1/12