Latham & Watkins Explained

Latham & Watkins LLP
Num Offices:	28 ^[1]
Num Attorneys:	3,078
Num Employees:	≈7,000
Practice Areas:	General corporate, mergers & acquisitions, banking and finance, litigation, antitrust
Key People:	Richard Trobman, Chair and Managing Partner
Company Type:	Limited liability partnership
Revenue:	US$5.5 billion (March 2022)

Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue.^[1] As of 2022, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world, with profits per partner exceeding US$5.7 million.^[2]

History

The firm was founded in January 1934 in Los Angeles, California, by Dana Latham and Paul Watkins. Latham's practice focused on state and federal tax law, and he eventually served as Commissioner of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service under President Dwight Eisenhower. Watkins's practice focused primarily on labor. At first, the firm grew slowly, with only 19 attorneys employed as of 1960.^[3]

As of 2020, the company is known for lobbying and litigating against actions to mitigate climate change.^[4] According to the Law Students for Climate Accountability, "Latham & Watkins is the only firm to be in the Top 5 Worst Firms for both transactions and litigation exacerbating climate change."^[5]

Amid the global recession in 2009, the firm laid off 190 lawyers and 250 paralegal and support staff, representing twelve percent of the firm's total associates and ten percent of the support staff.^[6] At a time when many firms were conducting layoffs, the term "Lathamed" became legal slang for being laid off.^[7]

At one time Latham & Watkins was considered to be the world's largest law firm by total revenue when, in February 2018, it surpassed $3 billion in annual revenue.^[8]

, Latham's largest office is in New York City, with more than 450 lawyers.^[9] The firm claims it is the only fully integrated multinational law firm with no single headquarters.^[10] In 2007, Latham became the first American law firm to attain more than $2 billion in yearly revenue, and in 2018 it was the first law firm to report more than US$3 billion in gross revenue.^{[11] [12] [13]} As of 2018, it was briefly the highest-grossing law firm in the world, but has since lost the number one spot to Kirkland & Ellis.^{[14] [15]}

Latham opened its first office in Moscow in 1992, and thereafter represented a number of Russian state-owned companies.^[16] These clients include the state-owned bank VTB and the natural gas producer Novatek.^[17] Latham ended its Russia operations in March 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.^[18] In August 2023, Latham announced the decision to close its Shanghai office amid consolidation of its operations in China.^{[19] [20]}

In November 2023, amid a wave of antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Latham & Watkins was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses."^[21] The letter has been denounced by a coalition of Muslim bar associations as contributing to Islamophobia and a climate of fear in the legal community.^[22]

In February 2024, Latham cut off its Hong Kong-based lawyers' access to content in its U.S., Europe, Middle East, and Asia databases.^{[23] [24]}

Rankings

Latham was ranked as the #1 firm in the Am Law 100 rankings for 2017.^[25] In 2021, the firm received the highest number of practice and lawyer rankings from Chambers and Partners.^[26] Dubbed an "A-List All-Star" by The American Lawyer, the firm is one of three firms to appear on the A-List each year since its inception in 2003.^[27] Vault.com named Latham one of the top five most prestigious firms in the United States and the most prestigious firm in Southern California.^[28]

Notable clients and cases

• Ardshinbank in its acquisition of HSBC Armenia.^[29]
• Relentless, Inc. in Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, a landmark decision which overruled the principle of Chevron deference established in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc..^[30]

Notable attorneys and alumni

Government

• Carla Anderson Hills – United States Trade Representative, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division^[31]
• Sean M. Berkowitz – Federal prosecutor in the trials of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Also defended Lori Loughlin in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.^[32]
• Leslie R. Caldwell – Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice from 2014 to 2017.^[33]
• Michael Chertoff – Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security
• Charles Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon^[34]
• Roderick M. Hills – Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission^[35]
• Dana Latham – Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service^[36]
• Jonathan Lippman – Former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.^[37]
• Philip Perry – Former associate attorney general, former general counsel of the Office of Management and Budget, and former general counsel of Department of Homeland Security.^[38]
• Kathryn Ruemmler – Former White House Counsel to President Barack Obama and federal prosecutor in the trials of Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling.^[39]
• Andrew H. Warren – State Attorney of Florida's 13th Judicial Circuit, Hillsborough County (2017–22)^[40]

Media and entertainment

• Brett Oppenheim – Reality TV star of Netflix's hit show, Selling Sunset. Owner of Oppenheim Real Estate.^[41]

See also

• List of largest law firms by revenue
• List of largest law firms by profits per partner

Notes and References

1. Web site: Latham. Law.com. 2022-03-07.
2. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP. en-US. 2022-03-07.
3. http://www.latham.com/AboutLatham.aspx?page=75thAnniversary Latham.com
4. Web site: Most Firms Are Failing the Climate Change Test, Law Student Group Concludes. 2021-10-09. Law.com. en.
5. Web site: 2020. The 2020 Law Firm Climate Change Scorecard.
6. News: Haynes. V. Dion. Latham & Watkins Cuts 190 Lawyers. 28 Feb 2009. The Washington Post. 28 February 2009.
7. News: Mystal. Elie. How Did Latham Become the Poster Child for Layoffs?. 14 June 2010. Above the Law. 14 June 2010.
8. Web site: 2018-04-10 . Latham & Watkins – What The Lawyer Says . 2023-01-18 . The Lawyer. Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs . en-GB.
9. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP - Global Directory - New York. Lw.com.
10. Web site: Legal Technology Journal . April 2008 . 9 . Lw.com. 2021-12-27.
11. News: Jones. Ashby. 2008-02-11. Latham & Watkins Breaks $2 Billion Revenue Barrier. en-US . The Wall Street Journal. 2021-02-12. 0099-9660.
12. Web site: Strom. Roy. February 22, 2018. Latham & Watkins Makes History with $3 Billion in Revenue. February 12, 2021. Law.com.
13. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP. 2021-02-12. Law.com. en.
14. News: Kirkland Overtakes Latham as World's Biggest Firm by Revenue . The American Lawyer. 2018-03-21.
15. News: Behold: The First Firm to Crack $3 Billion In Revenue . Rubino. Kathryn. Above the Law. 2018-03-21. en-US.
16. Web site: Here Are the Biggest Legal Advisers to Russia's Major State-Owned Companies . 2022-04-12 . Law.com International . en-us.
17. News: Binham . Caroline . Rovnick . Naomi . Thompson . Barney . 2018-05-31 . London law firms feel chill from icy relations with Russia . Financial Times . 2022-04-12.
18. Web site: Latham & Watkins, Morgan Lewis Latest to Shut Russia Operations . 2022-04-12 . Law.com International . en-us.
19. Web site: Latest US Law Firm Shrinks China Presence as Latham Closes in Shanghai . 2024-03-07 . Law.com International . en-us.
20. Web site: Foreign law firms scale back China operations as outlook dims . 2024-03-07 . Nikkei Asia . en-GB.
21. News: Sorkin . Andrew Ross . Mattu . Ravi . Warner . Bernhard . Kessler . Sarah . Merced . Michael J. de la . Hirsch . Lauren . Livni . Ephrat . Law Firms Warn Universities About Antisemitism on Campus . 2 November 2023 . The New York Times . 2 November 2023.
22. News: Egan . Matt . Law firms accused of fueling Islamophobia and chilling free speech . 4 June 2024. . 14 November 2023.
23. Web site: Latham & Watkins cuts off its Hong Kong lawyers from international databases . 2024-03-07 . www.ft.com.
24. Web site: Latham's China Data Protection Move Shows Firms' Security Worry . 2024-03-07 . news.bloomberglaw.com . en.
25. Web site: The 2017 Am Law 100: A Turning Point For Biglaw?. Abovethelaw.com. David. Lat. April 27, 2017 .
26. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP - About Us - Awards & Rankings - Latham Tops the Rankings in Chambers USA 2021 Guide. Lw.com. December 27, 2021.
27. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP-Company Profile-Vault.com. Vault.com.
28. Web site: Latham & Watkins | Company Profile. Firsthand.co. December 27, 2021.
29. Web site: Latham Advises Ardshinbank on Acquisition of HSBC Armenia. February 26, 2024. July 2, 2024.
30. Web site: Latham Wins Historic US Supreme Court Decision Overturning Chevron Deference. June 28, 2024. July 2, 2024.
31. https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/hrg101-52.pdf
32. Web site: 2021-04-20. Loughlin, Giannulli lawyer is prosecutors' 'worst nightmare'. 2021-06-14. Apnews.com.
33. Web site: Former Enron Prosecutor Leslie Caldwell to Join Latham & Watkin. June 21, 2017. July 2, 2024. New York Times.
34. Web site: Charles Courtenay, Latham & Watkins. Law360.com. December 27, 2021.
35. https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/Hillsbio0802.pdf
36. News: 1974-02-09. Dana Latham, 75, Former Head Of the Internal Revenue, Is Dead (Published 1974). en-US. The New York Times. 2021-02-12. 0362-4331.
37. Web site: Judge Jonathan Lippman Latham & Watkins LLP . 2023-01-11 . www.lw.com . en.
38. Web site: Homeland Security. dead. July 29, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20061010191022/http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?theme=11&content=5659. October 10, 2006. mdy-all.
39. Web site: Latham & Watkins LLP. Lw.com.
40. Web site: Sullivan . Dan . November 10, 2020 . Who is this guy? How Andrew Warren became the face of criminal justice in Tampa . 2023-03-13 . Tampa Bay Times . en.
41. Web site: About Brett Oppenheim . 2023-06-10 . Oppenheim Real Estate . en-US.