Ropes and Gray
Encyclopedia
Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm
with 10 offices located in the United States
, Asia
, and Europe
. The firm has over 1,000 lawyer
s and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agencies, universities, and health care organizations. It was founded in 1865 in Boston
, Massachusetts
by John Codman Ropes
and John Chipman Gray
.
The firm's major practice areas include private equity
, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property
, complex business litigation, securities litigation, health care
, life sciences
, bankruptcy
and business restructuring, government enforcement and white collar crime, investment management, hedge funds
, antitrust
, employee benefits, tax
, and real estate
. The firm is a leader in intellectual property
law; in 2010 the firm received the Chambers USA "Award for Excellence" recognizing it as the top IP firm in the country. In 2003, the firm acquired New York City
-based private equity
law firm Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt & Maynard. In 2005, the firm acquired New York-based intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave.
U.S. News / Best Lawyers named Ropes & Gray "Law Firm of the Year" for hedge funds for 2011-12. The firm also was among the 20 U.S. law firms with the most top-tier national rankings in the "Best Law Firms" survey. The firm was ranked in the first tier nationally in 27 areas, including banking and finance, biotechnology, corporate, general commercial litigation, health care, M&A, mutual funds, patent litigation, private equity, real estate, securities litigation, and tax, among others.
Directors & Boards magazine named Ropes & Gray one of the top 10 U.S. law firms in dealing with general corporate governance issues in its 2009 survey of "Top Corporate Governance Law Firms." Ropes & Gray was named one of the top five securities litigation firms in the United States by Law360 in 2011. The firm also was named one of 14 "standout" securities litigation firms in a BTI Consulting Group survey of 240 corporate counsel nationwide in 2010.
The Financial Times, in the first U.S. edition of its "Innovative Lawyers" report in December 2010, highly commended Ropes & Gray for work in automotive restructuring, citing the firm's role in representing the main credit holders in the Chapter 11 case of Plastech, the largest minority-owned auto supplier in Michigan. The firm also was commended in the litigation category for two cases: advising former senior officers of Freddie Mac in numerous securities fraud class actions and derivative actions, and its lawyers' successful arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. Harris, the seminal case on mutual funds advisor fees.
In the annual Chambers USA “Award for Excellence” honoring outstanding firms that demonstrate their pre-eminence in key practice areas, Ropes & Gray has been recognized as the leading U.S. law firm for intellectual property (2010) and investment funds (2009).
In 2011, the Chambers USA guide recognized 99 Ropes & Gray attorneys as leaders in their fields in 127 separate rankings. The firm is also cited as among the country’s best in 38 categories with 16 practice areas ranked in the top band, including antitrust, banking & finance, bankruptcy/restructuring, corporate/M&A, employee benefits & executive compensation,
health care, hedge & mutual funds, intellectual property, intellectual property: patent,
investment funds: registered funds, labor & employment, life sciences, litigation: general commercial, private equity: buyouts, private equity: fund formation and tax.
Chambers Global recognized Ropes & Gray in 15 practices, and the firm’s lawyers received 28 rankings in the 2011 edition of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers UK cited five Ropes & Gray practice areas, and Chambers Asia-Pacific recognized five Ropes & Gray practices in China and Japan.
The firm's work in Asia, which focuses on private equity, M&A, life sciences and intellectual property, has already received recognition. In 2010, for the second year in a row, Ropes & Gray received the Asian Legal Business “Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year” award for Japan, for representing long-term client Bain Capital on its acquisition of Bellsystem24, the leading call center operator in Japan, in the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years. Asian Legal Business also honored the firm's Hong Kong-based lawyers for their role in China's “M&A Deal of the Year,” GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd.’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Jiangsu Zhongneng. The firm also was recognized for having one of the leading patent firms in Japan by both Managing IP and Asia IP magazines.
The firm ranked #3 in The American Lawyer’s survey of midlevel associate satisfaction among AmLaw 100 firms in 2011 and was recognized by Asian Legal Business as an “Employer of Choice” in Japan for 2011.
, which definitively established the standard governing claims of excessive mutual fund fees under § 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Ropes & Gray lawyers have advised on notable M&A transactions. Landmark deals include:
In 2009, Ropes & Gray advised on three of the largest leveraged acquisitions of the year, on three continents. The firm advised long-term client Bain Capital on its acquisition of Bellsystem24 in the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years. It also represented TPG Capital and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board in their $5.2 billion acquisition of IMS Health Inc., a leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. And the firm worked on Liberty Global Inc.'s 2.6 billion Euro high yield offering to finance the acquisition of Unity Media, a German-based provider of broadband Internet, telephone, and digital TV.
The firm also represented Genzyme Corporation on a transaction that was recognized as a "Deal of Distinction" by the Licensing Executives Society in September 2010. Ropes & Gray advised Genzyme Corporation on a complex $2.9 billion deal with Bayer Schering Pharma AG that expanded Genzyme’s oncology portfolio by giving the company rights to marketed cancer drugs and control of a program in multiple sclerosis.
clients, ranging from transactional work for nonprofits to cases for individuals referred by not-for-profit legal service providers. That commitment in hours represented over a 500 percent increase over the last five years. The firm and its lawyers were recognized in 2010 for pro bono work in the areas of political asylum (in 2009, the firm committed over 12,500 hours to 71 indigent asylum-seekers) and an innovative partnership between legal and medical advocates.
Ropes & Gray partner Stephen Braga represented Arkansas death row inmate Damien Echols on a pro bono basis in the high-profile "West Memphis Three" case.. Echols and two other teenagers, who have maintained their innocence, were convicted of murder in 1993, and Echols was sentenced to death. In 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court granted them a new hearing because of new DNA evidence that suggested the three men were not at the scene of the crime. Before the hearing, scheduled for December 2011, however, Braga and other attorneys negotiated a deal between the defendants and prosecutors, allowing the men to go free using what's known as an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. On Aug. 19, 2011, the three men were released from prison. The case, and Ropes & Gray's Braga, were featured on a segment of the CBS news show "48 Hours."
In 2011, Ropes & Gray, led by partners Bruce Manheim and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, represented national medical organizations in a lawsuit challenging a new Florida law that restricts doctors from asking patients about guns in their homes. In the lawsuit, nicknamed "Docs v. Glocks," the physicians' groups argued that the law restricted their free-speech rights, and on Sept. 14, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke granted their motion to block the law.
The Medical Legal Partnership│Boston honored Ropes & Gray in recognition of work at Dorchester House in Boston. In collaboration with Dorchester House, Ropes & Gray established a national model for promoting health through preventative legal services in community-based health and social services centers. Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR), which works to secure safety and freedom for asylum-seekers who have fled from persecution throughout the world, recognized a Ropes & Gray lawyer for her work for Iraqi asylum-seekers. The Lawyers’ Committee, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan legal organization that provides pro bono legal representation to victims of discrimination based on race or national origin, honored Ropes & Gray for providing workshops and clinics for emerging businesses in an economically disadvantaged area of Massachusetts.
The firm earned the top rating of 100 percent in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Also in 2010, Immigration Equality, a national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals, presented Ropes & Gray with a 2010 Safe Haven Award for winning asylum for 10 Immigration Equality clients in 2009 – more than any other firm.
in the Back Bay neighborhood.
The firm's nameplate was featured in the film Bride Wars
. Kate Hudson
's character is an associate at a New York law firm, and is seen entering and exiting the firm's New York office at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.
San Francisco East Palo Alto, California
Tokyo
Hong Kong
Shanghai
London
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
with 10 offices located in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. The firm has over 1,000 lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
s and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agencies, universities, and health care organizations. It was founded in 1865 in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
by John Codman Ropes
John Codman Ropes
John Codman Ropes was an American military historian and lawyer and is the co-founder of law firm Ropes & Gray.Ropes was born in St. Petersburg on April 28, 1836, the son of a leading merchant of Boston who was engaged in business in Russia...
and John Chipman Gray
John Chipman Gray
John Chipman Gray was an American scholar of property law and professor at Harvard Law School. He also co-founded one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms in the United States, the firm of Ropes & Gray, with law partner John Codman Ropes. He was half-brother to U.S...
.
The firm's major practice areas include private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, complex business litigation, securities litigation, health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
, life sciences
Life sciences
The life sciences comprise the fields of science that involve the scientific study of living organisms, like plants, animals, and human beings. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of...
, bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and business restructuring, government enforcement and white collar crime, investment management, hedge funds
Hedge fund
A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
, antitrust
Antitrust
The United States antitrust law is a body of laws that prohibits anti-competitive behavior and unfair business practices. Antitrust laws are intended to encourage competition in the marketplace. These competition laws make illegal certain practices deemed to hurt businesses or consumers or both,...
, employee benefits, tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
, and real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
. The firm is a leader in intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
law; in 2010 the firm received the Chambers USA "Award for Excellence" recognizing it as the top IP firm in the country. In 2003, the firm acquired New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
-based private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
law firm Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt & Maynard. In 2005, the firm acquired New York-based intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave.
Rankings
Ropes & Gray is highly ranked in several publications, including The Financial Times, Vault [1], U.S. News / Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners and The American Lawyer. In 2011, Ropes & Gray was named to The American Lawyer’s “A-List” ranking of 20 top law firms based on attorney diversity, pro bono work, associate satisfaction and firm performance and was 27th in the AmLaw 100, which ranks firms by gross revenue.U.S. News / Best Lawyers named Ropes & Gray "Law Firm of the Year" for hedge funds for 2011-12. The firm also was among the 20 U.S. law firms with the most top-tier national rankings in the "Best Law Firms" survey. The firm was ranked in the first tier nationally in 27 areas, including banking and finance, biotechnology, corporate, general commercial litigation, health care, M&A, mutual funds, patent litigation, private equity, real estate, securities litigation, and tax, among others.
Directors & Boards magazine named Ropes & Gray one of the top 10 U.S. law firms in dealing with general corporate governance issues in its 2009 survey of "Top Corporate Governance Law Firms." Ropes & Gray was named one of the top five securities litigation firms in the United States by Law360 in 2011. The firm also was named one of 14 "standout" securities litigation firms in a BTI Consulting Group survey of 240 corporate counsel nationwide in 2010.
The Financial Times, in the first U.S. edition of its "Innovative Lawyers" report in December 2010, highly commended Ropes & Gray for work in automotive restructuring, citing the firm's role in representing the main credit holders in the Chapter 11 case of Plastech, the largest minority-owned auto supplier in Michigan. The firm also was commended in the litigation category for two cases: advising former senior officers of Freddie Mac in numerous securities fraud class actions and derivative actions, and its lawyers' successful arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. Harris, the seminal case on mutual funds advisor fees.
In the annual Chambers USA “Award for Excellence” honoring outstanding firms that demonstrate their pre-eminence in key practice areas, Ropes & Gray has been recognized as the leading U.S. law firm for intellectual property (2010) and investment funds (2009).
In 2011, the Chambers USA guide recognized 99 Ropes & Gray attorneys as leaders in their fields in 127 separate rankings. The firm is also cited as among the country’s best in 38 categories with 16 practice areas ranked in the top band, including antitrust, banking & finance, bankruptcy/restructuring, corporate/M&A, employee benefits & executive compensation,
health care, hedge & mutual funds, intellectual property, intellectual property: patent,
investment funds: registered funds, labor & employment, life sciences, litigation: general commercial, private equity: buyouts, private equity: fund formation and tax.
International
The firm has embarked on an international expansion, with offices opened since 2007 in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and London.Chambers Global recognized Ropes & Gray in 15 practices, and the firm’s lawyers received 28 rankings in the 2011 edition of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business. Chambers UK cited five Ropes & Gray practice areas, and Chambers Asia-Pacific recognized five Ropes & Gray practices in China and Japan.
The firm's work in Asia, which focuses on private equity, M&A, life sciences and intellectual property, has already received recognition. In 2010, for the second year in a row, Ropes & Gray received the Asian Legal Business “Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year” award for Japan, for representing long-term client Bain Capital on its acquisition of Bellsystem24, the leading call center operator in Japan, in the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years. Asian Legal Business also honored the firm's Hong Kong-based lawyers for their role in China's “M&A Deal of the Year,” GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd.’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Jiangsu Zhongneng. The firm also was recognized for having one of the leading patent firms in Japan by both Managing IP and Asia IP magazines.
Workplace recognition
Ropes & Gray has ranked among the top two law firms to work for three years in a row in the Vault survey. In 2011, Vault ranked Ropes & Gray the #2 Best Law Firms to Work For, #3 Best Law Firms for Overall Diversity, #1 in Formal Training, #1 in Informal Training, #2 in Associate/Partner Relations, #2 in Satisfaction, #2 in Green (environmentally friendly), #2 in LGBT Diversity, #2 in Diversity for Women and #3 in Diversity for Minorities.The firm ranked #3 in The American Lawyer’s survey of midlevel associate satisfaction among AmLaw 100 firms in 2011 and was recognized by Asian Legal Business as an “Employer of Choice” in Japan for 2011.
Prominent cases
The firm's lawyers argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, representing Harris Associates, in a seminal case for the mutual funds industry. In March 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Jones v. Harris AssociatesJones v. Harris Associates
Jones v. Harris Associates L.P. 559 U.S. ___ is a case heard by the United States Supreme Court on November 2, 2009 in which investors claimed that the fees they paid to an investment advisor were too steep, violating the Investment Company Act of 1940.The case held that the court has the...
, which definitively established the standard governing claims of excessive mutual fund fees under § 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Ropes & Gray lawyers have advised on notable M&A transactions. Landmark deals include:
- The acquisition by private equity firms Thomas H. Lee and Bain Capital of Clear Channel Communications, for $26 billion;
- Bain Capital's and The Blackstone Group's acquisition of The Weather Channel, in a multi-billion dollar deal;
- The sale of the Warner Music Group to Access Industries by private equity firms Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee, for $3.3 billion;
- Genzyme's acquisition by Sanofi-Aventis, for $20.1 billion;
- TPG Capital's acquisition of J.Crew, for $3 billion;
- A private equity group's acquisition of Dunkin' Donuts, for $2.4 billion;
- The Bare Escentuals merger with Shiseido of Japan, a $1.7 billion deal;
- Bain Capital's acquisition of MYOB, Australia's largest financial software developer.
In 2009, Ropes & Gray advised on three of the largest leveraged acquisitions of the year, on three continents. The firm advised long-term client Bain Capital on its acquisition of Bellsystem24 in the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years. It also represented TPG Capital and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board in their $5.2 billion acquisition of IMS Health Inc., a leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. And the firm worked on Liberty Global Inc.'s 2.6 billion Euro high yield offering to finance the acquisition of Unity Media, a German-based provider of broadband Internet, telephone, and digital TV.
The firm also represented Genzyme Corporation on a transaction that was recognized as a "Deal of Distinction" by the Licensing Executives Society in September 2010. Ropes & Gray advised Genzyme Corporation on a complex $2.9 billion deal with Bayer Schering Pharma AG that expanded Genzyme’s oncology portfolio by giving the company rights to marketed cancer drugs and control of a program in multiple sclerosis.
Pro Bono
In 2009, Ropes & Gray lawyers devoted 90,000 hours to pro bonoPro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
clients, ranging from transactional work for nonprofits to cases for individuals referred by not-for-profit legal service providers. That commitment in hours represented over a 500 percent increase over the last five years. The firm and its lawyers were recognized in 2010 for pro bono work in the areas of political asylum (in 2009, the firm committed over 12,500 hours to 71 indigent asylum-seekers) and an innovative partnership between legal and medical advocates.
Ropes & Gray partner Stephen Braga represented Arkansas death row inmate Damien Echols on a pro bono basis in the high-profile "West Memphis Three" case.. Echols and two other teenagers, who have maintained their innocence, were convicted of murder in 1993, and Echols was sentenced to death. In 2010, the Arkansas Supreme Court granted them a new hearing because of new DNA evidence that suggested the three men were not at the scene of the crime. Before the hearing, scheduled for December 2011, however, Braga and other attorneys negotiated a deal between the defendants and prosecutors, allowing the men to go free using what's known as an Alford plea, in which the men maintained their innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. On Aug. 19, 2011, the three men were released from prison. The case, and Ropes & Gray's Braga, were featured on a segment of the CBS news show "48 Hours."
In 2011, Ropes & Gray, led by partners Bruce Manheim and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, represented national medical organizations in a lawsuit challenging a new Florida law that restricts doctors from asking patients about guns in their homes. In the lawsuit, nicknamed "Docs v. Glocks," the physicians' groups argued that the law restricted their free-speech rights, and on Sept. 14, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Cooke granted their motion to block the law.
The Medical Legal Partnership│Boston honored Ropes & Gray in recognition of work at Dorchester House in Boston. In collaboration with Dorchester House, Ropes & Gray established a national model for promoting health through preventative legal services in community-based health and social services centers. Political Asylum/Immigration Representation Project (PAIR), which works to secure safety and freedom for asylum-seekers who have fled from persecution throughout the world, recognized a Ropes & Gray lawyer for her work for Iraqi asylum-seekers. The Lawyers’ Committee, a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan legal organization that provides pro bono legal representation to victims of discrimination based on race or national origin, honored Ropes & Gray for providing workshops and clinics for emerging businesses in an economically disadvantaged area of Massachusetts.
The firm earned the top rating of 100 percent in the 2010 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Also in 2010, Immigration Equality, a national organization fighting for equality under U.S. immigration law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV-positive individuals, presented Ropes & Gray with a 2010 Safe Haven Award for winning asylum for 10 Immigration Equality clients in 2009 – more than any other firm.
Notable current and former attorneys
- Mark BarnesMark BarnesMark Barnes is a prolific attorney and advocate. Barnes is an expert on public healthcare law. He was Director of Policy for the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, and Associate Commissioner for Medical and Legal Policy for the New York City Department of Health under the...
(Partner 2001-2006) - Activist and academic, currently Chief Research Compliance Officer, Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. - Yochai BenklerYochai BenklerYochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...
(Associate, 1994-1995) - Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman Professor for Entrepreneurial Legal Studies, Harvard Law SchoolHarvard Law SchoolHarvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
. - Stephen L. BragaStephen L. BragaStephen L. Braga is an American white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation attorney; and currently a Partner in the Litigation Department at Ropes & Gray in Washington, D.C. Mr. Braga is best known for his successful pro bono representation of Martin Tankleff and trial defense of...
(Partner) - Criminal defense attorney known for his successful pro bono representation of Martin TankleffMartin TankleffMartin Tankleff is a Long Island, New York resident who was convicted of murdering his wealthy parents, Seymour and Arlene Tankleff, on September 7, 1988...
. - Robert C. ClarkRobert C. ClarkRobert C. Clark is currently Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor of the Harvard Law School. He previously served as Dean and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School from 1989 to 2003. Clark is recognized as a leading authority in corporate law and corporate governance.-Career:Clark...
(Associate, 1972-1974) - Former Dean of the Faculty of Law (1989-2003), and Harvard University Distin guished Service Professor (2003-present), Harvard University. - Archibald CoxArchibald CoxArchibald Cox, Jr., was an American lawyer and law professor who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy. He became known as the first special prosecutor for the Watergate scandal. During his career, he was a pioneering expert on labor law and also an authority on...
(Associate, 1938-1945) - U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
; first special prosecutorSpecial prosecutorA special prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an attorney general or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have...
for the Watergate scandalWatergate scandalThe Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement...
. - Henry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot LodgeHenry Cabot "Slim" Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Massachusetts. He had the role of Senate Majority leader. He is best known for his positions on Meek policy, especially his battle with President Woodrow Wilson in 1919 over the Treaty of Versailles...
- (Associate, 1875-1880) - American statesman and 1st U.S. Senate Majority Leader. - Roger A. Moore (Partner, retired 1990) - Former Chairman of the Board, National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
; Chief Legal Advisor, presidential campaign of Barry GoldwaterBarry GoldwaterBarry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
; general counsel of the Republican National CommitteeRepublican National CommitteeThe Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
. - Ruth O'Brien (Partner, retired 1996) - Mother of Conan O'BrienConan O'BrienConan Christopher O'Brien is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer and performer. Since November 2010 he has hosted Conan, a late-night talk show that airs on the American cable television station TBS....
; second female partner. - Diane Bemus Patrick (Partner) - First Lady of MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. - John PalfreyJohn PalfreyJohn Palfrey is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, vice dean for library and information resources, and the Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He led a reorganization of the Harvard Law School Library in 2009...
(Associate, 2001-2002) - Co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, vice dean for library and information resources, and a tenured professor at Harvard Law School. - Elliot RichardsonElliot RichardsonElliot Lee Richardson was an American lawyer and politician who was a member of the cabinet of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. As U.S...
(Associate, 1949-1953, 1955-1957; Partner, 1961-1965) - Former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1970-1973); U.S. Secretary of Defense (1973); U.S. Attorney General (1973); United States Ambassador to the United KingdomUnited States Ambassador to the United KingdomThe office of United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom was traditionally, and still is very much so today due to the Special Relationship, the most prestigious position in the United States Foreign Service...
(1975-1976); and U.S. Secretary of Commerce (1976-1977). - James VorenbergJames VorenbergJames Vorenberg, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1927, was the Roscoe Pound Professor of Law and ninth Dean of Harvard Law School, former Watergate Associate Special Prosecutor, and first chair of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission...
(Associate, 1954-1960; Partner, 1960-1962) - Former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Harvard University (1981-1989). - Jane WillisJane WillisJane Willis is a partner at Ropes & Gray. While studying at Harvard, she had a reputation as a mathematical wiz, and was recruited into the MIT Blackjack Team. The book Bringing Down the House and film 21 are both based on the team's exploits. Willis is a character in both the book and film, where...
(Partner) - Part of the MIT Blackjack TeamMIT Blackjack TeamThe MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card-counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide...
later fictionalized in Bringing Down the HouseBringing Down the House (book)Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions is a book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MIT card counters commonly known as the MIT Blackjack Team. While represented as non-fiction by Mezrich and Free Press, the book contains significant fictional elements...
.
Miscellaneous
In fall 2010, the firm's Boston office moved to the top office floors of the Prudential TowerPrudential Tower
The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru, is a skyscraper in Boston, Massachusetts. The building, a part of the Prudential Center complex, currently stands as the 2nd-tallest building in Boston, behind the John Hancock Tower. The Prudential Tower was...
in the Back Bay neighborhood.
The firm's nameplate was featured in the film Bride Wars
Bride Wars
Bride Wars is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Gary Winick and written by Greg DePaul, June Diane Raphael and Casey Wilson....
. Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
's character is an associate at a New York law firm, and is seen entering and exiting the firm's New York office at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.
Offices
Boston New York Washington, DC ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
San Francisco East Palo Alto, California
East Palo Alto, California
East Palo Alto is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States.-Overview:As of the 2010 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 28,155. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose...
Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...