Baker & McKenzie

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Baker & McKenzie
Image:Baker-logo.gif
Headquarters Chicago, IL
# of Offices 70
# of Attorneys 3,400
# of Employees 10,000
Major Practice Areas General practice
Key People John Conroy (Chairman of the Executive Committee)
Revenue $1.522 billion USD (2006)
Date Founded 1949
Founder Russell Baker
Company Type Swiss Verein (Private)
Website www.bakernet.com

Baker & McKenzie is an international law firm, founded in Chicago in 1949 by Russell Baker. One of the first law firms to be truly global[1], it is now home to more than 3,400 lawyers spread over more than 70 offices in 38 different countries.[2]

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

Baker & McKenzie provides legal services to most of the world’s largest corporations as well as a broad spectrum of regional and local organizations. It has particular experience in the following industries: apparel, household and consumer products; banking and financial services; chemicals and petrochemicals; construction; energy and utilities; entertainment and media; insurance; mining; oil and gas; pharmaceuticals and healthcare products; professional services; real estate; technology; telecommunications; tourism and transport and infrastructure.[3]

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. The firm claims a culture of integrity, personal responsibility, friendship and tenacious client service.

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.[4]

Globally, Baker & McKenzie consistently ranks among the world’s largest law firms, by size and revenue.[5] Among US firms, it is ranked the largest.[6]It is also the largest international law firm in Asia, with 14 offices and in Latin America, with 16 offices, although a significant proportion of its revenue (43 percent) is generated by its offices in Europe and the Middle East.[7]

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

Contents

[edit] Baker & McKenzie in the News

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In January 2007, Baker & McKenzie successfully represented L'Oreal on appeal of its trademark infringement case against rival cosmetic company Special Effects. The Court of Appeal, ruling in favor of L'Oreal, 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.[8]

Baker & McKenzie ranked No. 5 in the 2007 BTI Client Service 30, a list of 30 law firms that deliver superior client service, 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]

In October 2006, Unilever chose the Firm to manage its global trademark portfolio, the largest in the world with over 160,000 registrations. It is the first time a multinational company outsourced its trademark management to a law firm on such a large scale.[11]

In September 2006, Baker & McKenzie won the International Law Office (ILO) Client Choice International Law Firm Award and was named best law firm in China for the second consecutive year. The ILO Client Choice Awards are based on a survey of senior corporate counsels from 34 jurisdictions worldwide.[12]

In May 2006, Baker & McKenzie, acting on behalf of client Infront Sports & Media, began issuing preemptive warning letters to websites it suspected might show the FIFA World Cup illegally, stating it would be "actively monitoring (their) website(s) ... to identify unlawful activity and will, if necessary, take appropriate action to ensure the protection of Infront's rights of those licenses".[13]

In January 2006, BusinessWeek magazine profiled Baker & McKenzie’s offshore operations in Manila, including the marketing, business research, and IT and computer maintenance support that Manila provides for the law firm globally.[14]

In 2005, Baker & McKenzie advised Telecom Egypt on its dual listing in Cairo and London on December 14 of that year, which resulted in a US$891million public placement that broke the record for an international equity offering from the Middle East and Africa. The deal was awarded Telecom Finance magazine’s IPO of the Year in 2006.[15]

On diversity, Baker & McKenzie ranked No. 12 overall among law firms in the US in the MultiCultural Law Magazine's "Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity."[16]

Since 2005, Baker & McKenzie has been one of seven law firms[17] who are members of 'Diversity Champions'[18], a 'good practices' program for blue-chip and major public sector employers. Diversity Champions is an effort of Stonewall[19], a UK-based lobbying group dedicated to the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexuals.

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.[20]

Baker & McKenzie were awarded the 2004 DTI Worldaware Award for helping to build capacity in the third world.[21]

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.” She now serves as France’s Minister of Trade and is currently listed No. 30 in Forbes’ “Most Powerful Women in the World.”[22]

In 1994, in a seminal case, a legal secretary named Rena Weeks successfully sued the law firm for sexual harassment.[23] 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. [24]

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.

[edit] Offices

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

[edit] North America

The firm's office at One Prudential Plaza in Chicago is its historical headquarters.
The firm's office at One Prudential Plaza in Chicago is its historical headquarters.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Europe

[edit] Middle East

[edit] Asia/Pacific

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2], Hoover's, 2006.
  3. ^ [3],Chambers and Partners
  4. ^ [4],Chambers and Partners
  5. ^ The Lawyer Global 100: Top 1-25,The Lawyer.com
  6. ^ The 2006 NLJ 250,National Law Journal
  7. ^ Baker & Mckenzie,The Lawyer.com
  8. ^ Bakers wins over L'Oreal with Appeal Court victory,The Lawyer.com
  9. ^ [5]BTI Consulting
  10. ^ Companies Dissatisfied with Outside Counsel,Law Crossing
  11. ^ Bakers cuts deal to take on Unliver trademark work,Legal Week
  12. ^ The Second Annual International Law Office Client Choice Awards, ILOawards.com
  13. ^ Hideous company sends Boing Boing a pre-emptive nastygram, BoingBoing.com.
  14. ^ Online Extra: The Cost-Killer in Manila, Businessweek.com
  15. ^ Deals of the Year, 2005, TMT Finance
  16. ^ Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity 2006, MultiCultural Law Magazine
  17. ^ Out and about, The Lawyer
  18. ^ [6], Diversity Champions
  19. ^ [7], Stonewall.org
  20. ^ Ketchup Trousers, Snopes.com.
  21. ^ Worldaware Business Awards
  22. ^ The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World - #30 Christine Lagarde, Forbes
  23. ^ The Baker & McKenzie Sexual Discrimination Case, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association.
  24. ^ Sexual Harassment Laws: How a Six Million Dollar Man Became a Six Million Dollar Liability, The Payroll Factory.

[edit] External links

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