- Managing Partner: Susan C Levy
- Firm Chairman: Anton R Valukas
- Number of partners: 217
- Number of lawyers: 457
- Languages: English, Arabic, Chinese/Cantonese, Chinese/Mandarin, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Sign Language, Spanish, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Ukrainian, Urdu
Firm Overview:
Founded in 1914, Jenner & Block has approximately 450 attorneys in offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. Known for its prominent and successful litigation practice and experience handling sophisticated and high-profile corporate transactions, the firm has been widely recognized for consistently delivering excellent results in the courtroom and the boardroom. It recently represented firm Chairman Anton Valukas as court-appointed Examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy in US history. Approximately 20% of the firm’s partners are recognized by Chambers USA and 14 are Fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Also among its attorneys are two former United States Attorneys, more than a dozen former Assistant US Attorneys, several senior SEC lawyers, former general counsel and numerous leaders of national, state and local bar associations. Firm clients include Fortune 100 companies, large privately held corporations, financial services institutions, emerging companies, venture capital and private equity investors.
Main Areas of Practice:
Litigation:
Jenner & Block has one of the most prominent and successful litigation practices in the United States. Its approximately 350 litigators have won victories in a broad range of complex and challenging civil and criminal cases before federal, state and administrative courts. The firm regularly represents clients before the United States Supreme Court, all of the 13 US Circuit Courts of Appeals, federal district courts and state courts nationwide. The firm has deep strength in the following practice areas: Appellate and Supreme Court; Complex Commercial Litigation; Content, Media & Entertainment; Government Contracts; Insurance Litigation and Counseling; Patent Litigation and Counseling; Professional Responsibility; Securities Litigation and Enforcement; and White Collar Defense and Investigations. Recent highlights include:
• Won a record $431 million FINRA award on behalf of STMicroelectronics, in an auction-rate securities suit, which was affirmed on appeal.
• Obtained a $227 million recovery for Ventas, an S&P 500 healthcare real estate investment trust, in a suit for tortious interference arising out of Ventas’ acquisition of a publicly traded healthcare REIT, following the appeal of a $101 million federal jury verdict won by the firm and a subsequent settlement on a remanded punitive damages claim
• Won a reversal of a $126 million federal jury verdict against L-3 Communications in a dispute arising out of a joint effort to purchase businesses
• Achieved a major US Supreme Court victory for video game industry client Entertainment Merchants Association in a First Amendment challenge to a California law that would have restricted the sale or rental to anyone under the age of 18, of video and computer games, based on their content
• Successfully represented Dow Chemical in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which upheld a $61.7 million damages award won by the firm in a patent infringement suit against Nova Chemicals in Delaware District Court Litigation Department
Contact: Co-Chair David J Bradford Tel: 312 923 2975
Email: dbradford@jenner.com
Contact: Co-Chair Craig C Martin Tel: 312 923 2776
Email: cmartin@jenner.com
Transactional:
Jenner & Block has a sophisticated business and financial transactions practice focusing on Mergers & Acquisitions; Corporate; Securities; Corporate Finance; Tax; Real Estate; Environmental and Workplace Health & Safety Law; Bankruptcy, Workout and Corporate Reorganization; Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation; and Private Equity, Hedge Fund & Investment Management. Clients range from large public corporations and privately held businesses, to financial institutions, prominent trade associations, nonprofit organizations and new ventures. Recent achievements include:
• Represented General Motors in its sale of substantially all of its assets in connection with GM’s bankruptcy; then served as lead issuer’s counsel to the new GM in its historic $23.1 billion initial public offering
• Represented General Dynamics in its major mergers and acquisitions and securities transactions, including its 2011 $960 million acquisition of Vangent, $360 million acquisition of Force Protection, and over $3 billion of public debt offerings since 2008
• Represented Swiss-based Lonza Group, one of the world’s top suppliers of drug ingredients to pharmaceutical companies, in its 2011 approximately $1.2 billion acquisition of Arch Chemicals, a global biocides company
• Represented Hertz Global Holdings in its 2011 $930 million acquisition of vehicle leasing and management company Donlen
• Represent the Bankruptcy Trustee of Lancelot Investors Funds, a failed hedge fund with over $1.7 billion in claims, mostly involving its investments in the second largest Ponzi scheme in US history Transactional Department
Contact: Chair Joseph P Gromacki Tel: 312 923 2637
Email: jgromacki@jenner.com
Public Service:
At Jenner & Block, pro bono service is woven into the fabric of the firm. Over the last 20 years, the firm has devoted more than 986,000 hours to pro bono matters. In 2011, firm attorneys averaged 154.9 hours of pro bono work. The firm’s efforts have been recognized by The American Lawyer as the number one pro bono program in the country four times and one of the top 10 programs in the country every year since 1990. The firm provides pro bono litigation and transactional services to dozens of organizations and thousands of individuals in a wide range of criminal and civil matters, including human rights, environmental issues, fair housing, death penalty litigation, and nonprofit counseling.