Duane Morris

Duane Morris LLP is a law firm headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1904 as Duane, Morris, Heckscher & Roberts,^[1] the firm has offices in the United States, London, Singapore, Vietnam, Oman, Myanmar and Shanghai.^[2] In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing approximately 100 professionals engaged in other disciplines.

Ranking and recognition

U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers awarded Duane Morris top-tier national rankings in bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law, construction law and litigation, employee benefits (ERISA) law, health care law, immigration, insurance, patent law and venture capital law. Overall, 28 Duane Morris practice groups were nationally ranked.^[3] Duane Morris was also named Law Firm of the Year for Construction Law.

Chambers USA 2014 edition ranks Duane Morris among national leaders in Insurance, Construction and Immigration. Attorneys received 61 citations for excellence, and 19 practices are cited for excellence.^[4]

In 2014, the Am Law 100 ranked Duane Morris as the 68th largest law firm in the U.S. based on gross revenue.^[5]

In 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014 Duane Morris was named one of the Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers "50 Best Law Firms for Women," and was cited for its Women's Initiative Program. Duane Morris is featured in the December/January issue of the magazine, and on workingmother.com and flextime lawyers.com.^[6]

In 2007, Duane Morris was named one of the 20 best companies for working women by Philadelphia Magazine^[7] and one of the top 50 law firms for women by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, a national consulting firm focused on the retention and advancement of women.^[8]

Growth

In 2013, Duane Morris opened an office in Myanmar.^[5] Also in 2013, Duane Morris opened an office in Oman.^[9]

Duane Morris is the 70th largest law firm based on the Am Law 100 rankings, with a gross revenue of $420,500,000^[10][broken link, conflicts with prior paragraph ranking]

Under the ten-year leadership of Chairman Sheldon Bonovitz from early 1998 to early 2008, Duane Morris grew from a little more than 200 lawyers in 1998 to more than 650 by January 2008. Revenues increased over that period from $70 million to $375 million for 2007.^[11] Bonovitz stepped down at the beginning of January 2008, replaced by former Vice Chairman John J. Soroko.

Harvard Business School completed a case study of the firm's growth entitled "Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm," which was presented in curriculum during the 2006-2007 academic year.^[12][13]

As of 2014, the firm had more than 700 attorneys across 27 offices.^[2][14]

Notable cases and deals

• Heineken's $4.6B bid for Asia Pacific Breweries: On November 15, 2012, Heineken N.V. closed its S$5.6 billion ($4.6 billion) takeover bid for Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd. (APBL), acquiring an additional 40-percent stake in the joint venture from its partner Fraser & Neave Ltd, a Singapore-based conglomerate. Duane Morris & Selvam, a joint law venture with U.S.-based international law firm Duane Morris LLP, acted for Heineken in the transaction, which consolidates a controlling interest in APBL for the Amsterdam-based brewer of approximately 95 percent. The transaction marks one of the largest of its kind in Singapore in 2012. The deal was named Singapore M&A Deal of the Year by the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2013.^[15][16]
• Lehigh Gas Partners IPO: Duane Morris completed a series of transactions in November 2012 that concluded with the $138 million initial public offering of wholesale motor fuel distributor Lehigh Gas Partners LP (NYSE: LGP).^[17]
• Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc.: Duane Morris represented the plaintiff Markman in a patent infringement lawsuit.^[18] After winning a jury verdict, Markman lost the case in a subsequent directed verdict for the defendant Westview due to questions of patent claims construction. The decision to reverse the jury verdict was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and later the U.S. Supreme Court. The result of this case is that so-called Markman hearings are now routinely conducted in patent infringement lawsuits so that a judge will rule on the legal meaning of patent claims before the lawsuit is argued before a jury.
• Tobacco Industry Litigation: Along with the Pittsburgh law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll, Duane Morris represented the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a 46-state class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry. The litigation concluded with a landmark $206 billion global settlement agreement for the 46 suing states.^[19][20][21]

Industries Served

• Automotive
• Banking
• Capital Markets
• Commercial Lending
• Construction
• Energy
• Financial Markets
• Financial Services
• Gaming
• Healthcare
• Information Technologies and Telecom
• Insurance and Reinsurance
• Manufacturing
• Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology
• Sports

Notable alumni

• Barbara Adams, General Counsel of Pennsylvania, under Governor Rendell
• Michael M. Baylson, a Federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Roland Sletor Morris, former United States Ambassador to Japan, one of the founding partners of the firm
• Gene E. K. Pratter, federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Marjorie Rendell, a Circuit judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Mark Singel, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995. Joined the firm in 2000 after leaving public service and left to start his own firm in 2005.

References

External links

• Duane Morris website
• Organizational Profile of Duane Morris at the National Law Review