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Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
American law firm From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (known as Morgan Lewis) is an American white-shoe international law firm headquartered in Philadelphia. Founded in 1873, the firm has approximately 2,200 legal professionals across 31 offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Morgan Lewis advises clients in industries energy, finance, technology, and life sciences, and represents three-quarters of the Fortune 100 companies.
The firm is known for its pro bono representations and for filing a historic amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 on behalf of 379 companies, making a business case for legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. Morgan Lewis is the largest law firm chaired by a woman, Jami McKeon.[2]
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History
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19th century
Morgan Lewis was founded in Philadelphia on March 10, 1873, by Civil War veteran Charles Eldridge Morgan, Jr., who later served as the Philadelphia Law Academy's vice president,[3][4] and Francis Draper Lewis, son of a wholesale dry goods merchant, whose first cousin was William Draper Lewis,[5] the dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
In 1883, Morgan & Lewis hired Morris Rex Bockius, who had graduated in June of that year with Master of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[6] He became a partner fifteen years after he joined the firm, which he then led until his death in 1939. The firm became Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in 1908, though it is still commonly referred to by its sobriquet, "Morgan Lewis."[7][8]
The firm began representing the United Gas Improvement Company, later UGI, in 1882; it became the largest gas and electric utility company in the United States and remained a client of the firm well over a century later. From the early 20th century, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius represented many other companies, including Philadelphia's largest daily newspaper, The Philadelphia Bulletin; Pennsylvania's largest railroad, Baldwin Locomotive Works; Scott Paper; and several major banks and trust companies.[9][10]
20th century
The firm has adhered to the Cravath System, a standardized compensation model used by many elite BigLaw firms. Under this system, associate salaries and bonuses increase predictably with seniority and are typically aligned with industry benchmarks.[11]
In 1963, Morgan Lewis hired its first female law associate, Gail McKnight Beckman, daughter of Pennsylvania's Deputy Secretary of Banking Irland McKnight Beckman and family psychology author Elizabeth B. Hurlock.[12] In 1980, Stephanie Abramson became its first female law partner; she was later an adjunct professor of clinical law and director of law and business experiential classes at New York University School of Law.[13][14]
21st century
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius originally held the domain name MLB.com, which it transferred to Major League Baseball in September 2000.[15] MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, elected in 2015, is an alumnus of the firm.[16]
In 2014, Jami Wintz McKeon, who joined the firm in 1981, became its first female chair. Re-elected in 2018, she has supported flexible work, such as remote options, and earned honors including a 2017 "Client Service All-Star" title from BTT Consulting Group and a "Business Hall of Fame Icon" award from The Philadelphia Inquirer. Under her leadership, Morgan Lewis expanded globally and received annual Gold Standard Certification from the Women in Law Empowerment Forum (WILEF).[17][18][19][20] During McKeon's tenure, the firm has continued to scale its national and international presence, growing into one of the largest law firms in the world.[21]
In 2012 Ted Cruz, a Morgan Lewis partner and head of the U.S. Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice, left Morgan Lewis upon becoming a United States Senator.[22][23]
In 2015, Morgan Lewis filed a historic amicus brief for the definitive Supreme Court case of Obergefell v. Hodges, on behalf of 379 companies, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and the New England Patriots,[24] which argued "a business case for legalizing same-sex marriage across the country."[25][26] Partner Susan Baker Manning, who authored the brief,[27] in 2018 was added as a full-time senior trial lawyer to the firm's pro bono group led by senior counsel Rachel Strong, with focus remaining primarily on refugee and civil rights,[28] and "issue-based litigation", according to firm chair Jami McKeon.[29] The firm is an affiliate firm of the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA).[30]
In February 2018, Morgan Lewis published findings of its investigation into sexual harassment at NPR, led by the head the firm's labor and employment group, partner Grace Speights, with partner Margaret Rodgers Schmidt and associate Jocelyn Cuttino; this precipitated the apologetic resignation of NPR's senior vice-president of news, Michael Oreskes.[31] Morgan Lewis recommendations were noted as offering "broad guidance for companies that are taking fresh looks at their own practices."[32] That same month, Wayne Pacelle, former CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, also resigned amid similar allegations, while under investigation by the firm; The National Law Journal referenced Morgan Lewis as working on the "front lines" in representing cases central to "long-overdue reforms in workplaces toxic to women."[33]
In April 2018, former Morgan Lewis partner John Ring was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board, one of several firm partners who have served on the NLRB, including Harry Johnson and senior counsel Charles Cohen.[34]
In March 2019, Chai Feldblum, former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission member and lead drafter of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,[35] became a partner of Morgan Lewis, then stating to Bloomberg Law that the move from public service to a "Big Law management-side firm", considered unusual, was the best way to help employers implement the workplace harassment guidelines outlined by herself and Victoria Lipnic at the EEOC, describing the firm as "the place from which to help make that institutional change”, of preventing harassment in the workplace.[36]
In November 2023, amid clashes at some universities following the start of the 2023 Israel-Hamas war; Morgan, Lewis & Bockius was among more than two dozen law firms that submitted a letter to 14 American law school deans, denouncing anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and racism, and advising those mentoring future law graduates of entrenched workplace policies against harassment or discrimination at their firms.[37]
In February 2025, Morgan Lewis hired a team of five IP litigation partners, Ali Razai, Benjamin Anger, Benjamin Everton, Brandon Smith, and Jacob Peterson, from Knobbe Martens.[38]
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Mergers and office locations
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Morgan Lewis was among the avant garde of multinational law firms when its first international office opened in London in 1981[39] and, today, includes more than 2000 legal professionals worldwide,[40] with 32 offices: in Abu Dhabi; Beijing; Boston; Brussels; Century City, California; Chicago; Costa Mesa, California; Dallas; Dubai; Frankfurt; Hartford, Connecticut; Hong Kong; Houston; Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan; London; Los Angeles; Miami; Moscow; New York; Palo Alto (Silicon Valley), California; Paris; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Princeton, New Jersey; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; Singapore; Tokyo; Washington, D.C.; and Wilmington, Delaware.[41]
On November 14, 2014, Morgan Lewis's partnership voted to admit 227 partners from Bingham McCutchen LLP into the firm as partners, scaling Morgan Lewis into one of the largest law firms in the world, with the addition of 750 partners, attorneys, and staff joining Morgan Lewis on November 24, 2014.[42][43] On March 15, 2015, Morgan Lewis and Singapore's Stamford Law Corporation announced a combination that created a fully integrated law firm in Singapore. The combination established a business transactions, litigation, and arbitration practice to serve clients with interests in Singapore and across the expanding Asian marketplace.[44][45]
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Representation
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Morgan, Lewis & Bockius clients include 75 per cent of all Fortune 100 companies, nearly 300 Fortune 500 companies, 65 Fortune Global 100 companies, and nearly half of all Fortune Global 500 companies. Morgan Lewis has also been named among the top 10 BigLaw firm ranked by pro bono hours,[46] with over 1800 pro bono clients,[29] and 117,000 hours contributed to 2,234 pro bono matters by firm attorneys in 2018.[28]
Notable pro bono clients include John Thompson (1963–2017), represented by Michael L. Banks and J. Gordon Cooney Jr., whose execution was stayed in 1999 based on forensic evidence which had been "deliberately hidden" by a former assistant prosecutor; Thompson was finally freed in 2003.[47] A book based on Thompson's legal misfortunes, Killing Time: An 18-year Odyssey from Death Row to Freedom, by John Hollway and Ronald M. Gauthier, was optioned for a film by Touchstone Pictures in 2009.[48] Attorneys Christina K. Harper and George Cumming waged a successful 11-year pro bono legal battle to gain freedom for Kelly Savage, whose sentence for a 1995 murder conviction was commuted in 2017 by California Governor Jerry Brown.[49][50][51]
Represented pro bono by Morgan Lewis & Bockius, with Lambda Legal and Immigration Equality;[52] in October 2020, the United States Department of State withdrew its appeal of the verdict in Kiviti v. Pompeo, and declined to appeal Mize-Gregg v. Pompeo.[53] Federal district courts ruled the State Department's refusal to recognize children born oversees to married same-sex, American citizen couples as U.S. citizens to be unlawful in both cases.[52][54] Morgan Lewis partner Susan Baker Manning argued both cases, successfully challenging the State Department's policy of denying children born outside of the U.S. to some American same-sex, married couples birthright citizenship.[52]
As outside counsel, the firm has represented Elon Musk, including in a lawsuit filed by former Twitter executives, in April 2024, alleging that Musk and X Corp withheld severance pay.[55]
U.S. presidents and presidential candidates
Morgan Lewis has represented several prominent politicians in various venues, including:
- Donald Trump – Morgan, Lewis & Bockius represented United States President Donald Trump, advising him and the Trump Organization from 2005 to January 2021.[56] Critics have accused Morgan Lewis of aiding Trump in using his presidential office for personal gain.[56] The Wallace Global Fund fired Morgan Lewis over its ties to Trump.[57] Morgan Lewis issued a letter in May 2017 stating they had examined Trump's tax returns and found no significant financial connection to Russia.[58] Sheri Dillon, a member of the firm, is Donald Trump's former tax attorney.
- Morgan Lewis partner James Hamilton was one of three assistant chief counsellors of the United States Senate Watergate Committee during 1973 - 1974,[59] the findings of which prompted the impeachment process against Richard Nixon that led to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. Hamilton was reported by the Washingtonian, in 2016, as the "go-to guy for Democratic nominees in search of a vice-presidential pick;" he has vetted running mates for:[60]
- Hillary Clinton, in 2016
- Barack Obama (with Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy), in 2008
- John Kerry, in 2004
- Al Gore, in 2000.
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Awards and honors
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In 2025, Morgan Lewis was named No. 1 best law firm for compensation and the No. 2 best law firm to work for by Vault.[61] The firm also placed 10th in The American Lawyer's 2025 ALM AmLaw 200 list, which ranks U.S. firms by gross revenue.[62] In 2024, Vault ranked the firm No. 1 for pro bono.[63]
Morgan Lewis ranked 10th in the 2024 Global 200 survey. In September 2024, The Lawyer recognized Morgan Lewis as one of the top 10 international firms in its Global Litigation 50 report.[62]
In 2023, the firm ranked No. 9 globally among the largest law firms by revenue.[64] The same year, Morgan Lewis received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Corporate Equality Index, receiving an Equality 100 Award.[65] Since 2008, Morgan Lewis has been named annually as among the "Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality" by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).[66]
In 2018, the Justice and Diversity Center (JDC) awarded Morgan Lewis its "Outstanding Law Firm in Public Service Award" for exceptional pro bono of JDC Legal Services and Diversity programs.[67] That August, Morgan Lewis was among the 41 law firms to receive the first Mansfield Certifications, awarded for diversity hiring practices.[68]
In 2016 and 2017, Morgan Lewis was named among "America's Best Corporate Law Firms" by the NYSE Governance Service and FTI Consulting, Inc.[69][70]
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References
External links
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