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Sidley Austin

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Sidley Austin LLP
HeadquartersOne South Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois, United States [1]
No. of offices20 Worldwide [2]
No. of attorneys2,000[3]
Major practice areasGeneral practice
RevenueIncrease 2.337 billion USD (2019)[4]
Date founded1866
FounderNorman Williams and
John Leverett Thompson
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitewww.sidley.com

Sidley Austin LLP, formerly known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, is a general practice law firm based in the United States, with a focus on expertise in transactional and litigation matters. The current firm was formed as the result of the 2001 merger of two predecessors: the Chicago-based Sidley & Austin, founded in 1866, and the New York–based Brown & Wood, founded in 1914.[5] The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop.[6]

History

Origins in Chicago

The firm that was to become Sidley Austin was formed in Chicago in 1866 by Norman Williams and John Leverett Thompson as the partnership of Williams & Thompson.[citation needed] Among the firm's first clients were the Pullman Company, the manufacturer of specialty sleeping railway cars, and former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln, then the widow of President Abraham Lincoln.[citation needed] Other early clients included Western Union Telegraph Company, which moved its Midwest headquarters from Cleveland to Chicago in 1869. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the firm represented numerous insurance companies including Equitable Life Assurance Society. In 1892, William Pratt Sidley joined the firm after having earned an LLB from Union College of Law and a M.A. from Harvard Law School. By 1913, the firm's name was changed to Holt, Cutting & Sidley, although Sidley would be the guiding personality for the Chicago firm through the 20th century. Three years later—the firm then fifty years old—had four partners, four clerks (associates), and ten staff employees with gross income of around $100,000 (roughly $1.9 million in 2008 dollars).[citation needed]

Buffeted by the Great Depression, the firm experienced a dramatic fall in revenues until the New Deal in the 1930s reinvigorated the capital markets. The firm represented Halsey, Stuart & Co., a Chicago-based underwriter in one of the first transactions under the Securities Act of 1933. In 1944, the name was changed to Sidley, Austin, Burgess & Harper and shortened to Sidley & Austin in 1967.

Towards a national firm

After the Second World War, Sidley & Austin began expanding beyond its Chicago roots as many of its clients entered new markets. In 1963, its Washington, D.C. branch was established which would soon become an important player in that city's legal market through its representation of the American Medical Association, American Bar Association and the International Minerals & Chemical Corporation. The firm developed strengths in antitrust and the representation of clients in front of the Federal Trade Commission.

Sidley & Austin was among several law firms caught up in the Savings & Loan Crisis and paid $7.5 million to settle legal malpractice claims stemming from its representation of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. Such legal work was profiled in the book by Ralph Nader and Wesley J. Smith, No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America.

Expansion and consolidation

Sidley & Austin expanded significantly in the 1970s and 1980s. 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.

In 2001, the firm merged with Brown & 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 its securities, structured finance and securitization practices. The firm's well-regarded publication, Accessing the U.S. Capital Markets: An Introduction to United States Securities Law, continues to be updated annually today. Brown & Wood had offices in the World Trade Center. The firm was known as Sidley Austin Brown & Wood until the name was rebranded as Sidley Austin in 2006.

Appellate Practice Group

In 1985, U.S. Solicitor General Rex E. Lee founded 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[7] and who now chairs the firm's executive committee.[8] The current co-chairs of the practice group are former Acting Attorney General Peter Keisler and former Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Joseph Guerra.

The Appellate Group has argued several landmark cases before the Supreme Court including U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (constitutionality of state-imposed term limits on members of Congress), Missouri v. Jenkins (proper role of federal courts in imposing desegregation remedies), and United States v. Lopez (Commerce Clause challenge to a federal statute prohibiting the possession of firearms within 1,000 feet of a school).[9][10] Directly or indirectly, Sidley Austin plays a role in 40 percent of the cases the Supreme Court hears every term. Over the last 30 years, its lawyers have argued 115 high court cases.[11]

On March 19, 2015 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that a client of Sidley Austin, AT&T Inc., filed its appeal too late in a patent infringement case, which cost AT&T its right to appeal a $40 million adverse judgment. The Federal Circuit held that a team of lawyers from the firm failed to file a notice of appeal within the requisite thirty days after a federal district court denied several post-trial motions. The court affirmed the district court's ruling that it was "troublesome" that none of the eighteen lawyers and assistants who received the electronic notices "bothered to read the orders issued by the court."[12][13]

Rankings and recognition

Sidley Austin is currently the sixth-largest U.S.-based corporate law firm, with approximately 2,000 lawyers[3] and annual revenues of more than two billion dollars. The firm is one of the highest-paying companies in the U.S.[14] (with a base salary of $190,000 for first year associates and $340,000 for eighth year associates; partners see a profit of $2.2 million annually).[15] Sidley currently maintains offices in 20 cities worldwide, with the most recent addition being Munich in 2016.

In each year since the survey's inception, Sidley has received more First-Tier National Rankings than any other U.S. law firm in the Best Law Firms Survey by U.S. News & World Report.[16] The 2015 U.S. News Survey also named Sidley as the "Law Firm of the Year" in International Trade and Finance Law as well as Litigation – Securities.[17] As of 2014, it was the 13th largest law firm in the world (and 8th in the US) by revenue.[18]

The firm frequently appears at the top of various industry rankings. In 2015, the BTI Consulting Group named Sidley to its BTI Client Service A-Team—one of only two law firms to rank in BTI's Client Service Top 10 for fourteen consecutive years.[19] The firm also showed up in 14 categories on The American Lawyer's Corporate Scorecard, landing in the No. 1 spot for its roles as issuer's counsel in equities offered by U.S. corporations, issuers' and underwriters' counsel for investment grade debt, and underwriters' counsel for REIT debt. Other honors include the 2005 Catalyst Award, conferred in recognition of the firm's impressive initiatives to retain and promote women attorneys, and its second consecutive year as No. 1 in the rankings by Thomson Financial for top issuer counsel and manager counsel for U.S. debt and equity-related activity.[citation needed]

The firm is particularly known for its securities practice[20] and its international trade practice,[20] both of which have consistently ranked first in the respective specialty rankings of Chambers and Partners. The trade group currently represents the Airbus/European Communities side in the ongoing WTO dispute with Boeing/US. The group was named the 2006 Global WTO Law Firm of the Year[21] and ranks first, before Wilmer Hale and Steptoe & Johnson, in the European Legal 500 ranking.[22] Its appellate and US Supreme Court practice is also particularly well-known and has been featured in USA Today, BusinessWeek, the American Lawyer, the Legal Times, and the National Law Journal.[23]

In 2008 Sidley Austin was awarded Deal of the Year - Debt Market Deal of the Year at the 2008 ALB Hong Kong Law Awards.[24] In 2015 Sidley Austin was named Finance Team of the Year at the Lawyer Awards in London.[25]

Sidley Austin during the September 11 attacks

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 personally affected the employees of Sidley Austin. Prior to the merger creating Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, which took place just four months before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the head office of Brown & Wood was in the World Trade Center, while Sidley & Austin New York office was located in offices on Third Avenue. Out of 600 employees who worked in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks, one perished, a switchboard operator, Rosemary Smith.[26][27]

Sidley Austin reopened its New York office on Monday, September 17, 2001 in the old Sidley & Austin office on Third Avenue which it had planned on closing on September 16. Instead, it leased four additional floors in that location, in a deal completed less than three hours after the collapse of the World Trade Center. Sidley Austin later opened its permanent new office in the Equitable Center building on Seventh Avenue in July 2002.[26]

Name changes

In the 1920s, the firm was named Cutting, Moore & Sidley. Following a number of changes, it was known as Sidley & Austin for many years until it merged with the New York capital markets firm Brown & Wood in the 1990s. Its name was changed to Sidley Austin LLP on January 1, 2006.

Political contributions

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Sidley Austin was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $1.45 million, 66% to Democrats (however, one of its former summer associates, Barack Obama, was running on the Democratic ticket).[28] By comparison, during that same period Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld donated $2.56 million, 66% to Democrats,[28] while oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated $2.66 million, 88% to Republicans.[29] Since 1990, Sidley Austin has contributed $6.88 million to federal campaigns.[30]

References

  1. ^ "Chicago". Sidley Austin. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  2. ^ "Sidley Austin LLP".
  3. ^ a b "Sidley Austin LLP". U.S. News & World Report.
  4. ^ Austin LLP https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2020/03/04/sidley-sees-gains-in-revenue-partner-profits-as-equity-tier-dips/title=Sidley Austin LLP. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ "Sidley & Austin Plans To Merge With Wall Street Power". Chicago Tribune. February 22, 2001.
  6. ^ "Chicago". Sidley Austin. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  7. ^ "Supreme Court and Appellate Practice". Sidley Austin.
  8. ^ Matthew Huisman. "Carter Phillips Named Sole Chair of Sidley's Executive Committee". The Recorder.
  9. ^ "Sidley Austin". oyez.org.
  10. ^ "Supreme Court and Appellate". sidley.com.
  11. ^ Supreme Court and Appellate | Practice Areas | Services | Sidley Austin LLP
  12. ^ "U.S. court rules AT&T's lawyers too late to appeal patent loss". March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2015.
  13. ^ "Two Way Media LLC v. ATT Inc" (PDF). March 17, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 22, 2015. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  14. ^ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/07/24-7-wall-st-americas-highest-paying-companies/70328230/
  15. ^ http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/law/sidley-austin-llp/company-overview
  16. ^ "For the Fourth Consecutive Year Sidley is Recognized With the Most First-Tier National Rankings in the 2014 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" Survey - 11 - 2013". sidley.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  17. ^ ""Law Firm of the Year" Awards". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  18. ^ Simpson, Jake (22 March 2015). "Law360 Reveals 400 Largest US Firms". New York: Law360.com. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  19. ^ Client Service 30 - A-Team — BTI Consulting Group
  20. ^ a b "Sidley Austin LLP". chambersandpartners.com.
  21. ^ "Sidley Austin LLP's International Trade and Dispute Resolution Group Honored by Chambers..." prnewswire.co.uk (Press release). London: Sidley Austin LLP. 17 November 2006.
  22. ^ "The Legal 500". legal500.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28.
  23. ^ "Our Practice". Sidley Austin LLP. Archived from the original on 12 February 2005. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  24. ^ "Asian Legal Business". legalbusinessonline.com.au.
  25. ^ "2015 Results". TheLawyerAwards.com. Centaur Media plc. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  26. ^ a b In Re 9/11: Law Firm Moves On, Still Recovering
  27. ^ "Special Reports - SILive.com.com". silive.com.
  28. ^ a b "Lawyers & Lobbyists: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics.
  29. ^ "Energy/Natural Resources: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates, Parties, and Outside Groups". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  30. ^ "Organizations: Sidley Austin". OpenSecrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
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