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Sidley Austin

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Sidley Austin LLP
HeadquartersOne South Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois,U.S.[1]
No.of offices21 Worldwide[2]
No.of attorneys2,300[3]
Major practice areasGeneral practice
RevenueIncrease2.795 billionUSD(2021)[4]
Date founded1866[5][6]
FounderNorman Williams[7]
John Leverett Thompson[7]
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitewww.sidley.com

Sidley Austin LLPis an Americanmultinationallaw firmwith approximately 2,300 lawyers in 21 offices worldwide. It was established in 1866 and its headquarters is atOne South DearborninChicago'sLoop.[1]It is one of the largest law firms in the world in terms of revenue. Among its alumni are former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama.[8]

History[edit]

Headquarters of Sidley Austin atOne South Dearborn

Origins in Chicago[edit]

In 1866, Norman Williams and John L. Thompson founded the law firm of Williams & Thompson in Chicago, Illinois. William Pratt Sidley, who had joined the firm in 1892, was added to the firm's name in 1900 when it was renamed Holt, Wheeler & Sidley. Edwin C. Austin joined the firm in 1914.[9]

Among the firm's first clients were thePullman Company,the manufacturer of specialty sleeping railway cars, as well asWestern ElectricandIllinois Steel.[9]

Towards a national firm[edit]

In 1963, former postmaster generalJ. Edward Dayleft the administration ofPresident John F. Kennedyto establish the firm'sWashington, D.C.office.[10]Initial clients included the Advertising Mail Marketing Association.[11]The DC office later represented theAmerican Medical Association,American Bar Associationand the International Minerals & Chemical Corporation. The firm developed strengths in antitrust and the representation of clients in front of theFederal Trade Commission.

Expansion and consolidation[edit]

In 1972, the firm merged with the 50 lawyers of Chicago firm Leibman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow. Additional offices were then established in London, Los Angeles, Singapore and New York. Following the merger, Washington D.C. partner Day resigned and later sued the firm, In a 1974 lawsuit, Day alleged that the merger represented a "breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, fraud and misrepresentation, conspiracy, wrongful dissolution or ouster of co-partner and breach of partnership agreement." The suit was laterdismissed with prejudice.[12]

In 2001, the firm merged withBrown & Wood,a New York-based law firm established in 1914 with 400 attorneys and additional domestic offices in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles and overseas branches in London, Beijing and Hong Kong (where it practiced English law in addition to U.S. law). Brown & Wood was known for itssecurities,structured financeandsecuritizationpractices. Brown & Wood had offices in theWorld Trade Centeron floors 54 and 56-59.[13]

Appellate practice group[edit]

In 1985,U.S. Solicitor GeneralRex E. Leefounded Sidley Austin's Appellate Practice Group to represent clients in all appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, and state appellate and supreme courts. Following Lee's death, the group was led by Carter Phillips, who has argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any lawyer in private practice.[14]

Involvement in the savings and loan crisis[edit]

Sidley & Austin was among several law firms caught up in theSavings & Loan Crisisand paid $7.5 million to settlelegal malpracticeclaims stemming from its representation of theLincoln Savings and Loan Association.Such legal work was profiled in the book byRalph Naderand Wesley J. Smith,No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America.

In 2007, Sidley Austin agreed to pay $39 million as part of a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. The settlement allowed the firm to avoid criminal charges of alleged fraudulent tax shelter activities.[15]The previous year, Sidley and KPMG agreed to pay $54 million to investors who bought the shelters.[16]

Rankings and recognition[edit]

Sidley Austin is the eleventh-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm, with approximately 2,000lawyers[3]and annual revenues of approximately three billion dollars. The firm is one of the highest-paying companies in the U.S.[17](with a base salary of $225,000 for first year associates and $435,000 for eighth year associates; equity partners saw a profit per partner of more than $3.0 million in 2020).[18][19]Sidley maintains offices in 21 cities worldwide, with the most recent addition beingMiamiin 2022.

Sidley has received the most First-Tier National Rankings a total of eight times since the inception of theU.S. News & World ReportBest Law Firms Survey in 2010.[20][21]The 2020U.S. NewsSurvey also named Sidley as the "Law Firm of the Year" in FDA Law and Securities Litigation.[22]As of 2019, it was the eighth largest law firm in the world (and sixth in the US) by revenue.[23]

The firm frequently appears at the top of various industry rankings. In 2020, the BTI Consulting Group named Sidley to its BTI Client Service A-Team—one of only three law firms to rank in BTI's Client Service Top 30 for 19 consecutive years.[24]The firm earned the top spot inAsset-Backed Alert's 2019 league tables for most activeunderwritercounsel in U.S. asset- and mortgage-backed securitization transactions.[25]Other honors include the American Bar Association's 2019 Champions for Disability Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award,[26]conferred in recognition of the firm's measurable progress in recruiting, retaining, and advancing to leadership lawyers with disabilities, and being named a 2019 "Litigation Department of the Year" finalist byThe American Lawyer.[27]

The firm is distinguished for its securities practice[28]and its international trade practice,[28]both of which have consistently ranked first in the respective specialty rankings ofChambers and Partners.The trade group represents theAirbus/European Communities side in the ongoingWTOdispute withBoeing/US. The group was named a 2019 International Trade Group of the Year byLaw360[29]and has been honored as "Law Firm of the Year" in Trade & Customs byWho's Who Legalfor 15 consecutive years.[30]Its appellate andUS Supreme Courtpractice is also particularly well known and has been featured inUSA Today,BusinessWeek,theAmerican Lawyer,theLegal Times,and theNational Law Journal.[28]

In 2020, Sidley was named "Firm of the Year" in Capital Markets (Overseas); Corporate Compliance; Healthcare, Pharma and Life Sciences; and Real Estate and REIT by China Business Law Journal.[31]In 2018, Sidley was named Competition & Regulatory Team of the Year at The Lawyer Awards in London.[32]

Pro bono work[edit]

Sidley Austin partner George Fatheree workedpro bonoon behalf of the descendants of Willa and Charles Bruce[33]to execute the return of beachfront land which had been seized by Los Angeles authorities in the 1920s.[34]The couple had lost the property, known as Bruce's Beach, when the state claimed it for public use and sold it to private investors.[35]It was officially restored to the couple's great grandsons, Marcus and Derrick Bruce, on July 20, 2022. The effort involved more than 1,000 hours of pro bono work.[36]

Associates and alumni[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"Chicago".Sidley Austin.RetrievedDecember 17,2009.
  2. ^"Sidley Austin LLP".
  3. ^ab"Sidley Austin LLP".U.S. News & World Report.
  4. ^"Archived copy".Archived fromAustin LLP the originalon August 27, 2021.RetrievedAugust 27,2021.{{cite web}}:Check|url=value (help)CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^February 09, Roy Strom |; International, 2018 at 02:46 PM | The original version of this story was published on."Sidley Tops $2 Billion as Profits, Revenue Rise Again".Law.com.RetrievedJuly 17,2020.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^Dalton, Brian (July 27, 2017)."The Loop Elite: The Go-To Firms Of Chicago".Above the Law.RetrievedJuly 17,2020.
  7. ^"Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100".Firsthand.RetrievedJanuary 26,2023.
  8. ^ab"Sidley & Austin".www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org.RetrievedJanuary 19,2023.
  9. ^ab"Chicago Tribune 27 Jul 1963, page 19".Newspapers.com.RetrievedFebruary 23,2023.
  10. ^Jr, Robert Mcg Thomas (November 1, 1996)."J. Edward Day, 82, Postmaster Who Brought In the ZIP Code".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedFebruary 23,2023.
  11. ^"Day v. Sidley Austin, 394 F. Supp. 986 | Casetext Search + Citator".casetext.com.RetrievedFebruary 23,2023.
  12. ^Schwartz, John (July 5, 2002)."In Re 9/11: Law Firm Moves On, Still Recovering".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedMay 24,2023.
  13. ^"Supreme Court and Appellate Practice".Sidley Austin.
  14. ^"Chicago Tribune 24 May 2007, page Page 3-1".Newspapers.com.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  15. ^"- U.S. TAX SHELTER INDUSTRY: THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTANTS, LAWYERS, AND FINANCIAL PROFESSIONALS".www.govinfo.gov.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  16. ^Frohlich, Thomas C."America's highest-paying companies".USA TODAY.
  17. ^"Sidley".abovethelaw.com.June 21, 2021.
  18. ^"Sidley".news.bloomberglaw.com.com.
  19. ^"Sidley Earns Most First-Tier National Rankings for Second Consecutive Year, Eighth Time Overall".sidley.com.
  20. ^"Sidley Austin LLP - United States Firm".Best Law Firms.RetrievedAugust 10,2023.
  21. ^""Law Firm of the Year" Awards ".U.S. News & World Report.RetrievedSeptember 18,2015.
  22. ^Unsworth, Ryan (September 8, 2020)."Sidley's Law.com Profile".New York: Law.com.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  23. ^"The 2010 BTI Client Service 30".Archived from the original on January 13, 2010.RetrievedJune 25,2023.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  24. ^"Green Street News".www.greenstreet.com.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  25. ^"2019 Champions Award".www.americanbar.org.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  26. ^December 29, Gina Passarella Cipriani |; PM, 2019 at 08:00."Built to Win: Sidley Austin, Litigation Department of the Year Finalist".The American Lawyer.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ab"Sidley Austin LLP".chambersandpartners.com.
  28. ^"International Trade Group Of The Year: Sidley – Law360".www.law360.com.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  29. ^"Winners – Lawyers & Law Firms".whoswholegal.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  30. ^Editor, Vantage Asia (April 8, 2020)."China Business Law Awards 2020 | China Business Law Journal".Vantage Asia.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)
  31. ^"Winners 2018".The Lawyer | Legal insight, benchmarking data and jobs.November 18, 2019.RetrievedSeptember 8,2020.
  32. ^Pequeño, Antonio (July 11, 2022)."Unanimous Vote Returns Bruce's Beach to Descendants of Original Owners".Los Angeles Business Journal.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  33. ^"Lawyers use pro bono hours to step up fight for racial justice".Financial Times.December 6, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  34. ^"Bruce's Beach Property Lawyer Eyes Systematic Changes - Law360".www.law360.com.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  35. ^Greene, Jenna (July 28, 2022)."Black family's oceanfront land seized in 1929 returned with help from pro bono lawyer".Reuters.RetrievedFebruary 12,2023.
  36. ^ab"Sidley Austin: When Barack Met Michelle".Wall Street Journal.May 11, 2007.RetrievedAugust 8,2021.
  37. ^"Apple Leadership - Katherine Adams".Apple.RetrievedMay 8,2024.
  38. ^"Judge Unseals Decision Disqualifying Sidley's James Cole From Huawei Defense".National Law Journal.RetrievedJanuary 19,2023.
  39. ^"Opinion: Mike Lee has earned a reputation as principled conservative".The Salt Lake Tribune.RetrievedJanuary 19,2023.
  40. ^"J.D. Vance".Ballotpedia.RetrievedDecember 15,2022.

External links[edit]

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