- Managing Partners: Susan W Murley, Robert T Novick
- Number of partners: 313
- Number of lawyers: 1,143
Firm Overview:
WilmerHale’s 1,000+ lawyers work in five firm-wide practice departments addressing those matters of the most importance to its clients’ business needs across the globe. The firm fields interdisciplinary teams of experienced and sophisticated lawyers and utilizes the most current technology to help its clients anticipate obstacles, seize opportunities and get the case successfully resolved, regulatory approval obtained, or the deal done as promptly and cost-effectively as possible.
Main Areas of Practice:
Corporate & Transactional:
It was an exciting and active year for the firm’s transactional lawyers,who served as issuers’ counsel or underwriters’ counsel in more than 30 public offerings raising more than $16 billion in 2011, handled more than 80 M&A transactions in the US, Asia and Europe with an aggregate value in excess of $15 billion, completed 200 venture capital financings with an aggregate value of approximately $1.6 billion, and negotiated more than 90 significant technology transactions and licensing deals in the life sciences and high-tech industries. Among many other matters, WilmerHale’s lawyers closed 60 funds for fund sponsors and investors; represented an array of leading financial institutions in precedent-setting, multibillion- dollar bankruptcy litigation; and handled major real estate transactions on both sides of the Atlantic.
Contact: Steven D Singer Tel: 212 295 6307
Email: steven.singer@wilmerhale.com
Intellectual Property:
As the center of WilmerHale’s scientific and technical and IP law expertise, the firm’s Intellectual Property Department played a critical role in its recognition as a top-three finalist in The American Lawyer’s Intellectual Property Litigation Department of the Year competition. In addition to its vital part in several large IP litigations, pre-litigation and patent analyses, and corporate due diligence matters, the IP Department worked on numerous reexamination and interference proceedings, filed 1,546 patent applications and secured 401 patents in 2011, for clients ranging from leading game development studios to clean energy innovators. The team worked on numerous opposition and cancellation proceedings, filed 1,835 trademark applications, and obtained 1,789 trademark registrations on products as diverse as wearable infant blankets and grainless granola.
Contact: Donald R Steinberg Tel: 617 526 6453
Email: don.steinberg@wilmerhale.com
Litigation/Controversy:
It was a successful year for WilmerHale’s litigators, who secured trial wins across the US and made more than 40 oral arguments in 15 different state and federal appellate courts, clinching many victories. The firm’s appellate and intellectual property litigation practices proved an unbeatable pairing when they won two of the year's most important US Supreme Court patent cases in the space of just a few days. A team drawn from the firm’s litigation, regulatory and intellectual property practices secured a significant win for Apple in an ITC action in which Nokia had accused Apple’s iPhone, iPad, iPod and MacBook products of infringing seven Nokia patents. WilmerHale filed 40 US Supreme Court briefs in 2011 and argued five cases in the last completed term, achieving the highest win rate of any firm, and managed an international arbitration portfolio of 63 cases with more than $60.5 billion in dispute. The firm’s Litigation Department was awarded an Honorable Mention in The American Lawyer’s Litigation Department of the Year biennial competition, which noted the team’s intellectual property appellate triumphs and renowned white-collar criminal defense practice.
Contact: Howard M Shapiro Tel: 202 663 6606
Email: howard.shapiro@wilmerhale.com
Regulatory & Government Affairs:
The expertise ofWilmerHale’s regulatory and policy lawyers was instrumental in many of the year’s most important and challenging matters, including the firm’s continued work on behalf of BP in its response to several of the multiple investigations and related inquiries into the April 2010 accident and spill at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. WilmerHale represented JP Morgan Chase in the settlement of high profile parallel investigations; helped clients in the US and Europe—including leading companies in the automotive sector—respond to civil and criminal antitrust probes; and assisted global leaders in a range of industries with merger clearance filings for major acquisitions. AT&T turned to WilmerHale for representation on the proposed acquisition of T Mobile; and the firm assisted financial institutions before the newly opened Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; represented an increasing number of clients on matters before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States; and continued to handle significant antitrust litigation, including the representation of Deutsche Telekom in competitor lawsuits for hundreds of millions of Euros in damages from an alleged margin squeeze in the local loop. WilmerHale helped cleantech companies navigate the regulatory approval process for alternative energy projects, and assisted many clients with compliance and enforcement matters involving US economic sanctions and export controls.
Contact: Randolph D Moss Tel: 202 663 6640
Email: randolph.moss@wilmerhale.com
Securities:
WilmerHale’s Securities Department played a pivotal role in many of the most significant cross-disciplinary matters entrusted to the firm by major clients. In addition, the firm’s lawyers achieved victories in a number of wide-ranging securities litigation matters, including a win for Medtronic in a putative ERISA class action, represented parties in investigations and enforcement proceedings, and successfully defended a number of clients—including smartphone semiconductor manufacturer Skyworks Solutions—in challenging mergers and acquisitions. WilmerHale’s securities team leveraged its regulatory expertise to launch a Derivatives and Futures Practice and provided important guidance to clients on new Dodd-Frank developments involving consumer protection and whistleblower rules.
Contact: William R McLucas Tel: 202 663 6622
Email: william.mclucas@wilmerhale.com
The firm also has offices in Beijing, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, London and Oxford.