Winston & Strawn LLP is an international law firm with nearly 1,000 attorneys in 16 offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Founded in 1853, it is the oldest law firm in the city of Chicago and one of the largest law firms in the world. Known as a "litigation powerhouse," the firm is recognized for its intellectual property litigation and financial services disputes practices in Silicon Valley and New York, respectively. Winston & Strawn is renowned as one of the best intellectual property law firms in Texas and is regularly recognized for its premier sports law practice. In 2016, Winston & Strawn became the first Chicago law firm to match the record starting salary of $180,000 for first-year associates. Winston & Strawn is admired for its trailblazing and progressive workplace programs, its parental leave policies considered "cutting edge for large law firms." The firm's record 2017 was featured in The American Lawyer.
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History and Timeline
Winston & Strawn LLP was founded in Chicago in 1853 by Frederick H. Winston, who was joined by the firm's other name partner, Silas H. Strawn, in 1892. A Beltway insider, Winston instilled in the firm's culture a proclivity to attract political heavyweights.
Through a series of mergers, office openings, and lateral hires, Winston & Strawn has established a global footprint.
- May 2012: 60 attorneys join from Dewey & LeBoeuf, bolstering the firm's already strong litigation practice.
- February 2017: Firm opens an office in Dallas with 23 partners from eight different law firms in Texas, the move described in the press as a "seismic shift" in the North Texas legal landscape.
- July-September 2017: Adds 12 partners to its employee benefits and executive compensation team, all from McDermott Will & Emery LLP
- August 2017: Award-winning multidisciplinary Latin America team joins in New York
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Notable Representations
Throughout its history, Winston & Strawn has handled many significant, high-profile matters for its clients, including its organizing the Union Stockyard and Transit Company in 1894; challenging the War Powers Act in 1944 on behalf of department store Montgomery Ward; and representing the Atlanta Braves baseball franchise in 1966 litigation involving its relocation from Milwaukee to Atlanta. More recently:
- 2017 - Achieved a favorable settlement for client Beef Products, Inc., BPI Technology, Inc., and Freezing Machines, Inc. (BPI) in a lawsuit against ABC News that has been described as "one of the most high-stakes defamation court battles in U.S. history."
- 2016 - On behalf of Warner Chilcott (owned by Teva Pharmaceuticals), secured a judgment invalidating the patent for NuvaRing®--the first combined contraceptive vaginal ring marketed in the U.S. The judgment struck down Merck & Co's patent infringement claims.
- 2016 - Represented Verizon as Employment & Employee Benefits Counsel in Acquisition of Yahoo!
- 2016 - Led by Dan Webb, released report regarding review of the Federal Civil Rights Litigation Division of the City of Chicago Department of Law
- 2015 - Obtained a landmark win before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Omnicare Inc.
- In a landmark antitrust lawsuit led by Jeffrey Kessler, representing a group of current and former college athletes seeking to strike down unlawful compensation restraints imposed by the NCAA on Division I men's basketball and football programs
- Represented Luxottica Group S.p.A. in myriad acquisitions, including its $1.6 billion hostile takeover of U.S. Shoe Corporation, owner of LensCrafters, in 1995 and its 2007 $2 billion acquisition of Oakley
- 2007 - Assisted Lear Corporation in connection with the bid for the company by Carl Icahn.
- 2006 - Represented the New York Stock Exchange in the Grasso compensation investigation and subsequent litigation
- 2002 - Achieved a decisive victory for Microsoft Corporation in the remedy phase of its battle against federal and state antitrust claims
- 2001 - Counseled Barr Laboratories to invalidate a key patent on Prozac in a case Fortune magazine calls "the mother of all patent challenges"
- 1994 - Defended General Electric in its much-publicized industrial diamond price-fixing case, led by Dan K. Webb
Notable Current and Former Employees
- James R. Thompson - Former governor of Illinois
- Nathan Sawaya - artist
- Emily Giffin - author of Something Borrowed
- Thomas Kirsch - United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana
- Michael Atkinson - Inspector General of the Intelligence Community under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- Eric Hargan - Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Jeffrey Kessler - Winston & Strawn co-executive chairman and leading antitrust, sports law, and trial lawyer. Represented Tom Brady in Brady v. NFL, which led to the end of the 2011 NFL lockout.
- Dan Webb - Winston & Strawn co-executive chairman and famed U.S. trial lawyer who achieved international acclaim for his successful prosecution of retired Admiral John Poindexter in the Iran-Contra affair. Previously the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. In 2017, he was named a Lifetime Achiever by The American Lawyer.
- Abbe Lowell - One of the nation's leading white collar defense and trial lawyers. His practice focuses on litigation, complex investigations and regulatory enforcement.
Pro Bono and Community Service
Winston & Strawn was one of the first large law firms in the country to adopt a written pro bono policy (in 1991), to become a signatory to the Pro Bono Institute Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge, to establish a well-funded charitable foundation, and to hire a full-time Director of Public Interest Law.
The firm's Pro Bono Policy was revised in 2004 to incorporate Winston's 150th anniversary Pro Bono Pledge to devote at least 35 hours per lawyer to pro bono work each year. Winston has provided representation in matters involving community economic development, criminal defense, First Amendment/free speech, contested guardianship, landlord/tenant, not-for-profit corporate organization, political asylum, post-conviction relief in death penalty cases, and public assistance.
Among other things, the firm has devoted hundreds of hours helping the Innocence Project, a nationally recognized advocacy organization that seeks to exonerate persons convicted of criminal offenses based on DNA evidence. The firm's collaboration with the Project has been immensely successful, involving hundreds of attorneys, paralegals, IT staff, summer associates, and others at the firm, so that more than 200 persons who were wrongfully convicted have now been exonerated.
In 2008, the firm led the Chicago Bar Foundation's ground-breaking "Campaign for Justice," which was a citywide effort to raise more than $1 million to support the city's 250 public interest lawyers and the 40 legal aid organizations they work for.
Created in 2011, the Winston & Strawn LLP Fellowship Program places incoming associates in positions at local public interest law organizations of their choice during the period following graduation and prior to their official start date at the firm. The fellowship program was created to provide participating associates an opportunity to gain hands-on legal experience, and also provide much needed service to public interest law organizations.
Winston & Strawn provides financial support to civic and charitable organizations through the Winston & Strawn Foundation, established in 1990.
References
External links
- Winston & Strawn LLP official Web site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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