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White & Case LLP
Headquarters1221 Avenue of the Americas
New York City, New York, U.S.
No. of offices46[1]
No. of attorneys2,559 (2024)[2]
No. of employeesApprox. 4,800 total
Major practice areasGeneral Practice
Key peopleHeather McDevitt (Chair)[3]
Profit per equity partner$3.5 million (2021)[4]
Date founded1901; 123 years ago (1901)
FounderJustin DuPratt White
George B. Case
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitewww.whitecase.com

White & Case LLP is a global white-shoe law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1901, the firm has 46 offices in 31 countries worldwide.[1][5]

History

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The firm was founded on May 1, 1901, when two Wall Street lawyers, Justin DuPratt White, 31, and George B. Case, 28, each contributed $250 (equivalent to $9,156 in 2023) to establish White & Case.[6]

White attended Cornell Law School on a state scholarship, where he was an editor of The Cornell Daily Sun. Case attended Yale University, where he played college baseball for the Yale Bulldogs, and then Columbia Law School.

The pair had a close relationship with Henry P. Davison, a noted banker who helped create the Federal Reserve. The firm's first clients included Bankers Trust Company.[7]

James Hurlock led the firm as chairman from 1980 to 2000. Under Hurlock, the firm tripled its roster of lawyers and expanded into multiple global markets.[7]

As of 1989, White & Case had reported that there were no Black or Hispanic lawyers among the firm's 82 partners. According to data provided to the National Association for Law Placement, the firm reported that nine of its 247 associates were black and that six had Hispanic backgrounds.[8]

In 1994, White & Case was among the first American law firms to open offices in Vietnam. Among the firm’s first clients in the region were PetroVietnam and Vietnamese State Bank.[9]

Duane Wall was named chairman in 2000. Although he refocused its business on New York's financial services industry,[7] Wall also oversaw a merger with the German firm Feddersen Laule Ewerwahn Scherzberg Finkelnburg Clemm.[10] This enabled White & Case to become the first American company to enter the "top ten" firms in Germany.[10]

Plaque outside White & Case's Washington, D.C. office

On October 1, 2007, White & Case announced a new leadership team led by chairman Hugh Verrier.[11] Shortly after taking the reins of the firm, Verrier retained the consulting firm of McKinsey & Company[12] to conduct a review of its worldwide business operations.[13]

In 2010, White & Case created a global pro bono practice,[14] focusing on three areas: access to justice, promoting the rule of law, and serving the world’s leading non-governmental organizations.[15] The firm was profiled by Law360 in 2012 for its pro bono efforts.[16]

The firm's antitrust law practice has been recognized as part of the top 5 Global Elite by the Global Competition Review (GCR) in 2020.[17]

The firm also has one of the most successful international arbitration practices in the world, having ranked first every year from 2015 to 2019, and most recently in 2021, by Global Arbitration Review (GAR).[18] White & Case is also noted by GAR as having the largest portfolio valuation of any firm for 2020 to 2022 (20 percent larger than the portfolio at the second-largest firm), and has the highest number of recognized market-leading practitioners.[18] The firm's arbitration practice is consistently ranked in the top bands across all market leading legal rankings,[19] and was most recently recognized in 2024 by Chambers as the top 4 Global Elite.[20]

In June 2020, the firm announced that it had "poached" four Winston & Strawn specialists to establish itself as a destination law firm for special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs): Joel Rubinstein, Jonathan Rochwarger, Elliott Smith and Daniel Nussen.[21][22]

Noriega controversy

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White & Case registered with the U.S. Government as a foreign agent for the Panamanian government in 1981. At the time, Panama was led by Manuel Noriega, a dictator with connections to international cocaine cartels.[23] The representation became a significant issue for Rudolph Giuliani in his 1989 campaign for New York City Mayor. Giuliani had joined the firm in February of that year and claimed no prior knowledge of the firm’s work for the Panamanian government.[8]

Pro bono work

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The firm was part of a program in New York City to provide pro bono legal representation to battered women seeking a divorce from their husbands.[24]

Partner Dana Foster began working to address racial injustice in Louisiana in 2020 by representing 16 mostly Black defendants with criminal convictions issued by non-unanimous, so-called “Jim Crow” juries. Created by segregationist lawmakers in the 1880s to oppress Black Americans, these laws were deemed unconstitutional in 2020 by the U.S. Supreme Court.[25]

Notable lawyers and alumni

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "White & Case in Germany". White & Case. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  2. ^ "White & Case". law.com.
  3. ^ "White & Case New Chair". Whitecase.com. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  4. ^ "Rocketing revenues at White & Case as London sees another double-digit boost". Legal Business. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  5. ^ Amon, Elizabeth (20 March 2013). "White & Case, Baker Botts, Gibson Dunn: Business of Law". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  6. ^ "White & Case History". Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  7. ^ a b c Feuer, Alan (6 June 2009). "A Study in Why Major Law Firms Are Shrinking". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  8. ^ a b Barbanel, Josh (25 May 1989). "Questions on Noriega Stall the Guiliani Campaign". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Newsday 13 Feb 1994, page 25". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  10. ^ a b Mizzi, Anne (29 June 2020). "White & Case hits top ten in Germany with merger". The Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  11. ^ Byrne, Matt (21 September 2011). "White & Case revamps executive committee | News". The Lawyer. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  12. ^ Journal, A. B. A. "What McKinsey Told White & Case". ABA Journal. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  13. ^ Journal, A. B. A. "White & Case Closes Doors at Last Italian Office". ABA Journal. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  14. ^ "White & Case Globalizes Pro Bono". Amlawdaily.typepad.com. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  15. ^ "2012 Pro Bono Survey". Americanlawyer.com. 27 June 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  16. ^ "Pro Bono Firm Of 2012: White & Case". Law360. 13 September 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  17. ^ "Global Competition Review - GCR 100". globalcompetitionreview.com. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Global Arbitration Review Gives White & Case Top Marks for International Arbitration | White & Case LLP". www.whitecase.com. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  19. ^ "White & Case Wins Top 2022 Rankings from Chambers USA, The Legal 500 | White & Case LLP". www.whitecase.com. 17 June 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  20. ^ "International Arbitration: The Elite, USA, Global | Chambers Rankings". chambers.com. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  21. ^ "Wake Up Call: DLA Piper Accused of 'Double-Dealing'" by Rick Mitchell, Bloomberg Law, June 18, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  22. ^ "The Law Firm of White & Case Acquires the Winston & Strawn SPAC Team" by Kristi Marvin, SPAC Insider, June 17, 2020. Retrieved November 10, 2021.
  23. ^ a b Glaberson, William (16 February 1989). "Giuliani Is Said to Be Joining Firm as Partner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  24. ^ "Daily News 16 Mar 1995, page 432". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  25. ^ "Lawyers use pro bono hours to step up fight for racial justice". Financial Times. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  26. ^ Loftus, Tom. "Here are 10 things to know about Andy Beshear, candidate for governor". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  27. ^ "Ex-Gov. Beshear Returns To Old Ky. Home: Stites & Harbison - Law360". www.law360.com. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  28. ^ Postelnicu, Valentina (26 January 2018). "BIOGRAFIE. Cine este Ana Birchall, vicepremier pentru implementarea parteneriatelor strategice, în Guvernul Dăncilă". Libertatea (in Romanian). Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  29. ^ Cuff, Daniel F. (10 October 1985). "ROGER M. BLOUGH, 81, DIES; LED U.S. STEEL FOR 13 YEARS". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  30. ^ "Judge Vacates $10M Jury Award in Showdown Between South Florida Real Estate Developers". Daily Business Review. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  31. ^ Ghorbanmehr, Amirhossein (18 December 2020). "A conversation with Prof Dr Malik R Dahlan". Dr. Hossein Sartipi. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  32. ^ "PORT AUTHORITY NAMES INTERIM CORPORATE COUNSEL". www.panynj.gov. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  33. ^ "Guide to the Irving S. Olds Papers, 1818-1963". dlib.nyu.edu. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  34. ^ Hays, Mike (22 April 2021). "Nyack People & Places: The Barons of Broadway –– Miramare". Nyack News & Views. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  35. ^ "Lauren Woodland # 283052 - Attorney Licensee Search". apps.calbar.ca.gov. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
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