Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Venable LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Venable
- Designation: National
- Head Count: 501
- Gross Revenues: $376,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $750,000
- Profits Per Partner: $845,000
- Year Over Year Change: 3
Given Venable’s sizable presence in Washington, D.C., where some 250 lawyers are based in its headquarters and a nearby office in Virginia, it’s no surprise that government–related work is a big portion of the firm’s workload. But Venable—a relatively new entrant on the Am Law 100 list, appearing for the first time in 2002—has branched far beyond regulatory law and government contracts and relations. Its practice areas also include intellectual property, advertising and marketing, real estate, business law, and litigation. And while the firm, which was founded in 1900, has five offices in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area, it also counts locations in New York and California.
Traditionally, Venable’s profits per partner and revenue per lawyer have fallen outside the top 100. While the firm suffered through some layoffs during the recession—16 lawyers and 48 staff were let go in March 2009—it managed to make it through much of the crisis without any drop in revenue. And even though Venable’s gross ultimately decreased in 2010, the firm nonetheless managed to maintain its profits per partner and revenue per lawyer.
Venable—whose clients include Marriott International, Inc., Panasonic Corporation, and GE Healthcare—scores better than the overall average on pro bono work (but lower than many of its D.C.–based rivals), placing eighty–eighth of 200 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Pro Bono Report. Attorneys averaged around 45 hours of nonpaying work, though some did far more than others, given that just a third of Venable’s lawyers put in more than 20 hours. Diversity fares worse, with Venable ranking 126th of 194 firms on the magazine’s 2011 survey. Barely 10 percent of the firm’s lawyers—and less than 6 percent of the partnership—identify themselves as minorities.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 76 | 3 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 76 | 3 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 84 | 7 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 88 | 21 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 128 | 2 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | NR | N/A | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 38 | 6 | Summer programs |
In the News
Yale University Files Suit Alleging Misuse of Its Name
Charles Toutant : New Jersey Law Journal : May 17, 2013
Yale University has sent an unwanted namesake a stinging letter of rejection — in the form of lawsuit.
Generic Drugmaker Settles Claims for $500 Mil. With DOJ
Matthew Huisman : The Legal Intelligencer : May 16, 2013
A team of Venable attorneys represented drugmaker Ranbaxy USA Inc. in a $500 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, marking one of the biggest drug safety deals ever with a generic-drug manufacturer.
Surging U.S. IPO Market Yields Gains for Cooley, Hunton
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 14, 2013
U.S. companies have already raised $16.8 billion through initial public offerings so far this year and several Am Law 100 firms are reaping the benefits.
Yale University Files Federal Suit Against Alleged Misuser of Name
Charles Toutant : New Jersey Law Journal : May 13, 2013
Yale University has sent an unwanted namesake a stinging letter of rejection — in the form of a lawsuit. The school alleges in federal court that Yale Academy, a college counseling and SAT preparatory service, engaged in trademark infringement, cybersquatting and consumer fraud by using Bulldogs blue and white on its website and otherwise suggesting an affiliation.
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.
D.C. MOVES
: The National Law Journal : May 6, 2013
Reverse Commute
Elliott Hurwitt : Corporate Counsel : May 1, 2013
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : April 30, 2013
Katten Muchin Rosenman hires eight attorneys in its new Houston office; Husch Blackwell brings aboard a business litigation partner in Chicago; and Morrison & Foerster welcomes back a partner in Hong Kong. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
Learning to Live with Sequestration, Defense Wind-Down
: The National Law Journal : April 29, 2013
No Stranger to Hacking, Hunton & Williams Adds Cybersecurity Expert
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 25, 2013
Paul Tiao, a former senior cybersecurity adviser with the FBI, has left the agency to become a partner in the privacy and data security group of Hunton & Williams in Washington, D.C. The practice group Tiao is joining, which Hunton launched 13 years ago, was itself caught up in a hacking scandal involving several security firms two years ago.
- Adams and Reese
- Akerman Senterfitt
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & Hostetler
- Baker & McKenzie
- Bingham McCutchen
- Bracewell & Giuliani
- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Burr & Forman
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Carlton Fields
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickinson Wright
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Greenberg Traurig
- Gross McGinley
- Harris Beach
- Haynes and Boone
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Hughes Hubbard & Reed
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Kutak Rock
- Lane Powell
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Lowenstein Sandler
- Margolis Edelstein
- McCarter & English
- McDermott Will & Emery
- McKenna Long & Aldridge
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morrison & Foerster
- Moses & Singer
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Proskauer Rose
- Pryor Cashman
- Reed Smith
- Richards, Layton & Finger
- Robinson & Cole
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Shipman & Goodwin
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Sullivan & Worcester
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wiley Rein
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Winston & Strawn
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
- Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor
