Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, known more commonly as Sheppard Mullin, is an AmLaw 100 law firm with 640 attorneys in 15 offices. Its first office was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1927.^[1] Its most recent office opened in Seoul in 2012.^[2] In 2008, Sheppard Mullin represented the Wikimedia Foundation in a defamation lawsuit.^[3]

History

The firm's four name partners had distinctive careers.

• James C. Sheppard (1898–1964) was the first chairman of the American Bar Association Section of Labor Law in 1955, a member of the State Bar Board of Governors, and President of the State Bar of California in 1960-1961. When the United States entered World War II, Sheppard became Director of the Office of Civil Defense for eight western states.

• J. Stanley Mullin (1907–2000) was Chairman of the American Bar Association Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Sections, and served on the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. In World War II, Mullin received a Navy commission and served with distinction in both theaters, including the Normandy invasion and the battle of Iwo Jima. He was an avid sportsman who participated in the 1932 Olympic Trials in equestrian events and was on the organizing committee for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games at Squaw Valley.^[4]

• George R. Richter (1910–2002) specialized in banking and commercial law. He helped author the original Uniform Commercial Code. A plaza at the USC School of Law is named after him.^[5]

• Gordon F. Hampton (1912–1996) helped develop the antitrust laws during the 1950s and was a founder of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section. He was a well-known collector of contemporary art and a charter benefactor of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; a gallery at the Museum's California Plaza location is named after him.^[6]

Sheppard Mullin's first branch office opened in Orange County in 1977, followed by the openings of the San Francisco and San Diego offices in 1981 and 1986, respectively.

The twenty-first century has been a period of expansion for Sheppard Mullin: establishing an entertainment practice in Century City (2001); and in 2001 opening an office in Del Mar Heights, located in the biotech corridor near San Diego; expanding to the East coast, opening offices in Washington, D.C., and in New York (2003); going global with the firm's first international office in Shanghai (2007); opening in Silicon Valley (2008); opening in Beijing, Brussels and London (2011); and most recently opening in Chicago and Seoul (2012).

Locations

Sheppard Mullin currently has offices in Beijing, Brussels, Century City, Chicago, Del Mar, London, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Palo Alto, San Diego, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C.^[7]

Areas of practice

The firm's primary practice groups include:

• Antitrust & Trade Regulation
• Bankruptcy & Restructuring
• Corporate
• Entertainment, Technology & Advertising
• Finance
• Government Contracts, Investigations & International Trade
• Intellectual Property
• Labor & Employment
• Litigation
• Real Estate, Land Use & Natural Resources
• Tax

Attorneys in all eleven groups also have expertise in international law, advising clients on their inbound and outbound transactions. Services include: structuring and financing of overseas businesses, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and the representation of U.S. companies investing in and doing business abroad, particularly in China and Latin America.

The firm has numerous industry-focused teams.

Recognition

• Sheppard Mullin partners have been ranked in Best Lawyers in America, Chambers,^[8] Legal 500, Super Lawyers, and Which Lawyer PLC
• Ranked as one of the "Best Places to Work" by the Los Angeles Business Journal,^[9] San Francisco Business Times,^[10] San Diego Business Journal,^[11] Orange County Business Journal,^[12] Crain's New York Business,^[13] and Washington Business Journal.^[14]
• Corporate Counsel magazine recognized Sheppard Mullin as a Fortune 500 "Go-To" Law Firm, 2014
• Recognized by BTI Consulting Group in its Survey of Client Service Performance for Law Firms: The BTI Client Service A-Team 2014^[15]
• U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers ranked Sheppard Mullin among the "Best Law Firms" in the country, including national rankings of the firm's antitrust, finance and bankruptcy, corporate and tax, entertainment, litigation, and real estate and land use practices.^[16]
• Ranked among the best litigation firms in California by Benchmark Litigation, 2014^[17]

Diversity

• The Human Rights Campaign gave Sheppard Mullin a 100% Corporate Equality Index (CEI) rating^[18]
• Ranked as one of MultiCultural Law's 2012 Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity^[19]
• Ranked as one of the top 100 law firms in the country when it comes to diversity, according to the 2013 "Diversity Scorecard" published by The American Lawyer^[20]
• Sheppard Mullin is General Counsel for GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)^[21]

Pro Bono

• Taxis for All Campaign v. Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC): As a result of the settlement in the case challenging the New York City taxicab fleet for not being wheelchair accessible, New York City agreed to have the New York taxi fleet, which is currently only 1.8% accessible, become 50% accessible over the next six years.^[22]
• Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled (BCID) et al. v. Mayor Bloomberg, et al.: The firm represented a class of 900,000 disabled residents of New York City. After trial, a federal judge issued a 119 page ruling that New York City discriminated against people with disabilities in its failure to plan for their needs in large scale disasters such as Hurricane Sandy.^[23]

References

External links

• Sheppard Mullin website
• Vault Profile