Jones Day

Jones Day

Headquarters	Cleveland
No. of offices	31
No. of attorneys	2,400
Major practice areas	General practice
Revenue	$1.5 billion
Date founded	1893 (Cleveland)
Company type	Limited liability partnership
Website	www.jonesday.com

Jones Day is an international law firm headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. It was founded on March 1, 1893 by Judge Edwin J. Blandin and William Lowe Rice. Jones Day is the 8th largest law firm in the world by revenue. It is currently the second largest law firm in the United States, with approximately 2,400 lawyers and gross annual revenue in excess of US$1.5 billion. The current managing partner, Stephen J. Brogan, resides in the firm's Washington D.C. office.

History

Jones Day was founded in 1893 in Cleveland, Ohio as Blandin & Rice. In its early days, major Ohio-based clients included the Ohio & Pennsylvania Coal Company, major utilities and railroads.

Early mergers

In 1939, the firm then known as Tolles, Hogsett & Glinn merged with another Cleveland firm to become Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis. The merged firm numbered 22 partners and 20 associates.

In 1944, an explosion at the East Ohio Gas Company killed 130 people and destroyed 600 homes. Jones, Day lawyers counseled the gas company and settled many claims before trial.

In 1946, it opened its first office outside of Ohio in Washington, D.C.

By 1952, the firm was representing the Youngstown, Ohio steel mill in the celebrated case testing the limits of executive power, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer.

In 1967, the firm merged with Washington D.C.-based Pogue & Neal to become Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.

1980 Washington D.C. split-up

The firm suffered a setback in 1980 when most of the Washington, D.C. office split to form the firm Crowell & Moring. Since that time, Crowell has matured into a top 100 law firm in its own right while Jones Day has rebuilt its Washington, D.C. office to more than 200 lawyers. That same year Jones Day opened in Columbus, Ohio, followed in 1981 in Dallas through the acquisition of local firm Meyers, Miller, Middleton, Weiner & Warren.

International expansion

The international expansion of Jones Day began in 1986 when the firm merged with boutique law firm Surrey & Morse, a firm of 75 attorneys with international offices in London, Paris and Riyadh.

The following years saw a rapid expansion to many established and emerging financial and business centers both in the United States and abroad. In 2003, in perhaps its most significant merger to date, Jones Day merged with Gouldens, a 200 lawyer London based firm with a solid mid-tier reputation in finance and property. Gouldens had engaged in preliminary merger negotiations with White & Case but had abandoned them in favor of maintaining its autonomy. The London office was known as Jones Day Gouldens during 2003 until the moniker was dropped in favor of the united global brand. The UK-US merger followed the union between Chicago-based firm Mayer Brown & Platt and Rowe & Maw, another middle market UK law firm of approximately 200 attorneys as non-New York firms sought to ramp up their expansion plans in the competitive (and lucrative) London market.

The following year, many attorneys from the unraveling intellectual property New York boutique law firm Pennie & Edmonds joined Jones Day to cement its reputation in that sector.

Awards

Jones Day's Litigation Department was the first ever to receive the American Lawyer's Litigaton Department of the Year award. Jones Day is also one of two law firms to be named to BTI Consulting's client-service hall of fame, and is regularly recognized in surveys of corporate general counsels as the top or one of the top law firms in the United States.

In 2008, Jones Day was ranked the 22nd most prestigious firm on the Vault 100 yearly list of the most prestigious law firms. On the same list, Jones Day was ranked #1 Best in Region- Midwest, #1 Partner Prestige Rankings- Antitrust, and ranked in the top 25 in 15 categories.

People

Alumni

Notable alumni of the firm include:

• U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
• U.S. Congresswoman Jane Harman
• Erwin Griswold, former U.S. Solicitor General and Harvard Law School Dean.
• Mark McCormack, sports agent and IMG founder.
• David Morse, International Labour Organization Director and 1969 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace.
• Morgan O'Brien, Nextel founder.
• Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Co. visionary. Bower reportedly based his approach to management consulting—now the dominant model in that profession—on his observations of the practice of law at Jones Day.
• Megyn Kelly, Fox News correspondent.
• L. Welch Pogue, former Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board.

Managing Partners

• Frank H. Ginn (1913–1938)
• Thomas H. Jones (1938–1948)
• John W. Reavis (1948–1975)
• Allen C. Holmes (1975–1984)
• Richard W. Pogue (1984–1993)
• Patrick F. McCartan (1993–2002)
• Stephen J. Brogan (2002–present)

Practice Areas

The firm practices in virtually all areas of law, including:

• Antitrust
• Business restructuring
• Capital markets
• Energy
• Environmental law
• Health & safety
• Intellectual property
• Litigation
• Mergers & acquisitions
• Technology

Jones Day is especially renowned for its litigation practice, which numbers over 1,000 lawyers and is the largest in the world. In 2002, the American Lawyer magazine selected Jones Day's litigation group as its first ever Litigation Department of the Year. Particular areas of strength under the broader umbrella of litigation include antitrust (or competition law), labor & employment, and products liability. Jones Day also has a leading appellate practice, and in recent years has ranked at or near the top of the list of private U.S. firms engaged in litigation in the United States Supreme Court (by number of cases briefed and argued on the merits).

Other awards included the following:

• "Number One for Client Service," 2002, 2004, and 2005; Top "Market Mover " in 2006, BTI Consulting Group, Inc.
• "International Law Firm of the Year," Asian Legal Business , 2005 and 2006
• Second most cited, "Who Represents Corporate America," Corporate Counsel, 2006

Controversy

In September 2008, Jones Day began a lawsuit over the website Blockshopper linking to their own website while discussing condo purchases by two of the firm's associates. The suit argues that linking to their site in this matter dilutes their service mark. This is seen by some as an abuse of trademark law and potentially harmful of the concept of linking.

In November, 2008 the judge overseeing the trial, Judge John W. Darrah of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, granted a request by Jones Day to block amucus briefs from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others on the grounds that they were biased.

In February, 2009, due to mounting legal costs, Blockshopper settled the case, requiring it to change the way the links are presented so as to not show the corporate URL on the linking page. The case and settlement are considered to be a potential violation of SLAPP laws and also run against precedent set in prior cases regarding deep linking.

External links

• Official website