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Baker McKenzie

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Baker & McKenzie
Baker & McKenzie
HeadquartersGlobal
No. of offices70
No. of attorneys3,600
No. of employees10,000
Major practice areasGeneral practice
Key peopleJohn Conroy (Chairman of the Executive Committee)
RevenueIncrease $1.829 billion USD (2007)
Date founded1949
FounderRussell Baker & John McKenzie
Company typeSwiss Verein (Private)
Websitewww.bakernet.com

Baker & McKenzie is an international law firm, founded in Chicago in 1949 by Russell Baker and John McKenzie. One of the first law firms to be truly global[1], it is now home to more than 3,600 lawyers spread over more than 70 offices in 38 different countries.[2]

Baker & McKenzie adopted a Swiss Verein structure on July 1, 2004.

The firm is truly a transnational operation as no single nationality dominates the firm, and more than 80 percent of its lawyers practice outside the United States. The lawyers come from 60 countries and speak more than 75 languages, with English in common.

It offers more geographic coverage and more lawyers in the world’s leading financial centers (New York, London, Tokyo and Hong Kong) than any other firm.[3]

Baker & McKenzie is the second largest law firm in the world by number of attorneys[4], and as of 2007, it is the 4th largest law firm in the world by revenue [5]. Among US firms, it is ranked the second largest by number of attorneys[6] and the third largest by revenue. It is also the largest international law firm in Asia, with 14 offices and in Latin America, with 16 offices.[7]

Baker & McKenzie acquired the New York office of Coudert Brothers in 2005.

Awards

Baker & McKenzie ranked No. 3 in the 2008 BTI Client Service 30, a list of 30 law firms that deliver "superior" client service[8], which is published by the BTI Consulting Group.[9]. Results for the survey were taken from more than 200 interviews with corporate counsel and top executives from Fortune 1000 companies.[10]

Baker & McKenzie is ranked among America's best corporate law firms, according to a survey of directors and general counsels of publicly traded companies conducted by Corporate Board Member magazine and FTI Consulting, a global business advisory firm.[11]

In September 2006, Baker & McKenzie won the International Law Office (ILO) Client Choice International Law Firm Award. It has also been recognized as the best law firm in China since 2005. The ILO Client Choice Awards are based on a survey of senior corporate counsels from 34 jurisdictions worldwide.[12]

Baker & McKenzie were awarded the 2004 DTI Worldaware Award for helping to build capacity in the third world.[13]

Diversity

The firm was recognized in 2007 by Working Mother magazine as one of the Best Law Firms for Women.[14]

Baker & McKenzie is among the law firms in the US recognized by MultiCultural Law Magazine as one of its "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity."[15]

Since 2005, Baker & McKenzie has been one of seven law firms[16] who are members of 'Diversity Champions'[17], a 'good practices' program for blue-chip and major public sector employers. Diversity Champions is an effort of Stonewall[18], a UK-based lobbying group dedicated to the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals.

Baker & McKenzie in the News

John Conroy was re-elected to a second term as Chairman of the firm in October 2007.[19] The firm’s profit per partner (PPP) broke US$1 million for the first time during his first term.[20]

In September 2007, BTI Consulting rated the firm as one of the world's top 10 transaction law firms in its recent survey on corporate transactions, which was reported by National Law Journal.[21]

In January 2007, Baker & McKenzie represented L'Oreal on appeal of its trademark infringement case against rival cosmetic company Special Effects. The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court decision that had discouraged IP owners to oppose UK trade mark applications. The appeal was important enough to compel the International Trademark Association (INTA) to intervene.[22]

In October 2006, Unilever chose the Firm to manage its global trademark portfolio, the largest in the world with over 160,000 registrations. It was the first time a multinational company outsourced its trademark management to a law firm on such a large scale.[23]

Baker & McKenzie is one of the first law firms to have adopted a functional outsourcing operation, which is now being emulated by other firms.[24] Its offshore operations in Manila, which include marketing, business research, and IT and computer maintenance support, was profiled in January 2006 by BusinessWeek magazine.[25]

In June 2005, a senior associate called Richard Phillips drew a considerable amount of media attention after it was revealed that the highly-paid lawyer had been making a determined effort to have a £4 dry cleaning bill paid by a secretary who had accidentally splashed tomato ketchup on his trousers. In an open email, the secretary explained that she had been slow in attending to the matter due to the recent death and funeral of her mother. Before long, the story had been widely circulated throughout the City of London and beyond.[26]

In 1999, then-Paris managing partner Christine Lagarde was elected Chairman of the Global Executive Committee, the first woman to lead Baker & McKenzie. She was Chairman for five years. In 2004, Forbes listed Lagarde as No. 76 in its list of “Most Powerful Women in the World.”, as she served as France's Minister of Trade in 2006, she reached No. 30. She now serves as France’s Minister of Finance.”[27]

In 1994, in a seminal case, a legal secretary named Rena Weeks successfully sued the law firm for sexual harassment.[28] The trial court ordered the law firm to pay $3.5 million in punitive damages, making it one of the largest damage awards in history for this type of action. [29] On May 4, 1998, the California Court of Appeal for the First District upheld the trial court's judgment in full.[30]

In 1986, Geoffrey Bowers, then a New York attorney, filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights in 1986, charging that he had been fired from his job at the Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie law firm after AIDS-related lesions appeared on his face. Two months after testifying at a hearing on the complaint, he died at age 33. The case was resolved in his favor in late December, when Baker & McKenzie was ordered to pay $500,000 to Bowers' estate. It was one of the first AIDS discrimination cases to go to a public hearing. Baker & McKenzie appealed but subsequently withdrew the appeal after they negotiated a confidential settlement with Bowers' family forbidding parties from ever discussing the case or the terms of the agreement in 1995. These events were the inspiration for the film Philadelphia (film), starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. The film's credits include the following message: "This motion picture was inspired in part by Geoffrey Bowers’ AIDS discrimination lawsuit, the courage and love of the Angius family and the struggles of the many others who, along with their loved ones, have experienced discrimination because of AIDS."

Offices

Baker & McKenzie is organized as a Swiss Verein in which each office is a largely-autonomous component of a loose international organization.

North America

The firm's office at One Prudential Plaza.

Latin America

Trench, Rossi e Watanabe, which has offices in Brasília, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, is affiliated with Baker & McKenzie but is not a member of the firm.

Europe

Middle East

Asia/Pacific

References

  1. ^ Chambers and Partners : Chambers Global Guide Profile
  2. ^ [1], Hoover's, 2006.
  3. ^ [2],Chambers and Partners
  4. ^ [3]The Lawyer Global 100: Top 1-25],The Lawyer.com
  5. ^ [4], Law.com
  6. ^ [5], National Law Journal
  7. ^ Baker & Mckenzie,The Lawyer.com
  8. ^ [ http://news.practice.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20071108/08nov20071449.html]
  9. ^ [ http://www.bitconsulting.com] BTI Consulting
  10. ^ Companies Dissatisfied with Outside Counsel,Law Crossing
  11. ^ [6]
  12. ^ The Second Annual International Law Office Client Choice Awards, ILOawards.com
  13. ^ Worldaware Business Awards
  14. ^ [7], Working Mother
  15. ^ Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity 2006, MultiCultural Law Magazine
  16. ^ Out and about, The Lawyer
  17. ^ [8], Diversity Champions
  18. ^ [9], Stonewall.org
  19. ^ [10],Law.com
  20. ^ [11], The Australian
  21. ^ Law.com - Skadden tops list of corporate counsel's go-to firms
  22. ^ Bakers wins over L'Oreal with Appeal Court victory,The Lawyer.com
  23. ^ Baker & McKenzie Awarded Unilever Trade Mark Operations and Administration Outsourcing Contract October 11, 2006
  24. ^ [12], The Guardian
  25. ^ Online Extra: The Cost-Killer in Manila, Businessweek.com
  26. ^ Ketchup Trousers, Snopes.com.
  27. ^ The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World - #30 Christine Lagarde, Forbes
  28. ^ The Baker & McKenzie Sexual Discrimination Case, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
  29. ^ Sexual Harassment Laws: How a Six Million Dollar Man Became a Six Million Dollar Liability, The Payroll Factory.
  30. ^ Weeks v. Baker & McKenzie, 63 Cal. App. 4th 1128 (1998).
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