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Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Headquarters50 South Sixth
Minneapolis, MN
No. of offices21
No. of attorneys589
Major practice areasGeneral Practice
Revenue $337.3 million USD (2017)
Date founded1912
FounderWilliam Lancaster, David Simpson
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitewww.dorsey.com

Dorsey & Whitney LLP (known as Dorsey) is an American law firm with over 500 lawyers, and a similar number of staff, located in 21 offices in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. The firm's headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it was founded. As of 2023, Dorsey is led by managing partner William R. Stoeri. The firm's lawyers have included several prominent public figures, including former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale.

As of 2023, Dorsey employs approximately 575 lawyers spread across 21 offices worldwide.

History

Dorsey was founded in 1912 by William Lancaster, a director of First National Bank of Minneapolis (now part of U.S. Bank), and David Simpson, a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court. The following year, they hired James Dorsey as their first associate. Dorsey left the firm in the 1920s to become an investment banker, but returned to the firm a few years after the 1929 stock market crash. Dorsey led the firm until his death in 1959. The name of the firm continued to change for most of its history, until it was shortened into its current, permanent name in 1981. Dorsey continues to build on its traditional strengths in corporate law and litigation through a wide range of practice groups.

The firm has also endowed the Dorsey and Whitney Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School.

Notable alumni

Key clients

According to Corporate Counsel, Dorsey has been identified as the Go-To firm for the following Top 500 companies:[5]

Other key clients:

Assistance to Guantanamo captives

Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney prepared the habeas corpus petition for the six Bahraini citizens held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[6] Juma al Dossari, one of Colangelo-Bryan's clients, made a suicide attempt during Colangelo-Bryan's visit.[7][8][9][10]

Charles "Cully" Stimson, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo captives: "corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists." [11] Stimson's views were widely criticized. The Pentagon disavowed them and he resigned shortly thereafter.

Insider trading controversy

In 2008, police uncovered an insider trading conspiracy involving Dorsey & Whitney partner Gil Cornblum, who there and earlier in his career at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York discovered inside information and, with his co-conspirator, Stanko "Stan" Grmovsek– a former lawyer and Cornblum's law school classmate –was found to have gained over $10 million in illegal profits over a 14-year span.[12] Cornblum committed suicide by jumping from a bridge as he was under investigation and shortly before he was to be arrested but before criminal charges were laid against him, one day before his alleged co-conspirator pled guilty.[12][13][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ Cillizza, Chris (2006-04-14). "The Washington Post: The Friday Line: Senate Gains Still Looking Certain For Dems". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2006-05-16. Retrieved 2006-05-10.
  2. ^ https://illinoislawreview.org/wp-content/ilr-content/articles/2010/2/Robinette.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  3. ^ Christopher J. Robinette, The Prosser Notebook: Classroom As Biography and Intellectual History, 2010 U. Ill. L. Rev. 577, 583 (2010)
  4. ^ Larry Splett, Former Iowa Governor Thomas J. Vilsack Joins Dorsey & Whitney Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, April 12, 2007.
  5. ^ Corporate Counsel: Search "Dorsey"
  6. ^ "Guantanamo Plea Filed in US Court by Dorsey's Joshua Colangelo-Bryan". Dorsey & Whitney. July 26, 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-19.[dead link‍]
  7. ^ Kanwal Hameed (October 20, 2005). "Sex torture claim by Bay prisoner". Gulf Daily News. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  8. ^ Josh White (November 1, 2005). "Guantanamo Desperation Seen in Suicide Attempts: One Incident Was During Lawyer's Visit". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  9. ^ Kanwal Hameed (November 8, 2005). "Move to protect Bay detainee". Gulf Daily News. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  10. ^ Jane Sutton (June 11, 2006). "Dozens have attempted suicide at Guantanamo". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on October 19, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
  11. ^ Lewis, Neil (2007-01-13). "Official attacks top law firms over detainees". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
  12. ^ a b "Insider trading and suicide in Canada: a buddy story"
  13. ^ Ex-Dorsey Partner Kills Himself on Eve of Insider Trading Deal
  14. ^ PressReader - National Post (Latest Edition): 2010-01-08 - PRISON FOR INSIDE TRADER
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