Coudert Brothers
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| Coudert Brothers LLP | |
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| Headquarters |  New York City |
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| No. of Offices | 28 |
| No. of Attorneys | 650 |
| Major Practice Areas | General practice |
| Revenue | — |
| Date Founded | 1853 (New York City) |
| Company Type | DEFUNCT |
| Website | www.coudert.com |
Coudert Brothers LLP was a law firm founded in 1853[1] in New York by three sons of Charles Coudert, Sr.: Frederic René Coudert, Sr., Charles Coudert, Jr., and Louis Leonce Coudert, which specialized in international law.
The firm represented private investors seeking to acquire rights to build the Panama Canal; French automotive and tire manufacturers opening plants in the U.S.; the governments of Russia, France and Great Britain in the build up to World War I; and Ford Motor Company and a group of foreign car manufacturers in the successful appeal of the Selden Patent Case, ending the attempted monopolization of the automotive industry.The firm prospered under three generations of family control, expanding from its start in New York City to 28 offices worldwide, including Paris, London, Moscow, Sydney, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Shanghai. Coudert partners dealt with financiers, presidents, and ambassadors in settling cases of corporate ownership worldwide, acting as confidential facilitators of Allied arms buying in World War I, and as interventionist supporters in World War II.
In 1986, Coudert Brothers hired Gordon B. Spivack, a former Yale Law School professor who oversaw the multimillion-dollar antitrust practice at the disbanding law firm of Lord Day & Lord. Spivack took 17 lawyers to Coudert Brothers, plus clients like the Coca-Cola Company.[2]
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[edit] Dissolution
Though American Lawyer magazine ranked it "among the 100 highest-grossing firms in the United States" in 2004, it was dissolved in 2005 after failing to reach a merger agreement with another firm, Baker & McKenzie.
The break up of Coudert Brothers was long in coming. In 2004, the firm had profits of only $410,000 per partner—among the lowest in big law firms. Coudert Brothers took a significant hit when Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe recruited 11 partners from its London and Moscow offices, effectively ended its presence there.[3] After the break-up, most of the New York office joined Baker & McKenzie, greatly expanding its New York operations. In Paris, the Coudert Frères office split to the Philadelphia-based firm Dechert and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. In Brussels, Antwerp, Singapore and Tokyo, DLA Piper welcomed new attorneys from Coudert. Additionally, some of the lawyers in Almaty, Kazakhstan and St. Petersburg, Russia went on to be the foundation for new offices for Chadbourne & Parke in those areas. Its Bangkok office switched to Hunton & Williams.
On September 22, 2006, Coudert Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
[edit] Offices[4]
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[edit] Notes
- ^ "The modern firm of Coudert Brothers has a choice of starting dates: its origins clearly go back to 1853, when Frederic René hung out his shingle, but purists, if they wish, may hold by either 1855, when two Coudert brothers first practiced law together, or 1857, when the brothers seemed to have turned their fledgling enterprise into a legal partnership." "It is the 1857 city directory...that for the first time lists ...the name they chose for their partnership: Coudert Brothers". Virginia Kays Veenswijk, Coudert Brothers: The History of America's First International Law Firm 1853-1993, Truman Talley Books, New York, 1994, ISBN 0525935851, p. 26.
- ^ Oldest Law Firm Is Courtly, Loyal and Defunct
- ^ Law.com - Coudert Breakup Voted After Merger Talks Fail
- ^ A list of locations where Coudert Brothers LLP once maintained offices. Not all of the offices listed where in operation at the time that the firm folded in 2006. The New York office joined the New York office of Baker & McKenzie
- The New York Times, 9 February 2007, "The Complicated End of an Ex-law Firm", accessed 5 April 2008
