- Debevoise & Plimpton
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Debevoise & Plimpton 
Headquarters New York City No. of offices 8 No. of attorneys 680 Major practice areas General practice Revenue 
$760.8 million (2008)Date founded 1931 Company type L.L.P. Website www.debevoise.com Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a prominent international law firm based in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Eli Whitney Debevoise and William Stevenson, Debevoise has been a long established leader in corporate litigation and large financial transactions. In recent years, its practice has taken on an increasingly international component. The firm currently employs about 680 lawyers in eight offices throughout the world.
Contents
Reputation
In 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, Debevoise & Plimpton was named as America's Best Law Firm by the American Lawyer in its A-List rankings. Debevoise & Plimpton is also ranked in the top 20 on various Avery Index rankings, including No. 20 Most Family Friendly Firms, No. 11 Happiest Associates, No. 16 Highest Paid Associates, No. 4 Most Dedicated to Pro Bono Work, and No. 5 on the Perfect Law Firm. Debevoise & Plimpton is a sponsor of the Louvre Museum in Paris and a founding member of the Cercle Louvre Entreprises.
Other Mentions
Debevoise & Plimpton is mentioned several times in the TV show The West Wing. In the show, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman's father was a partner at Debevoise. Additionally, an assistant attorney general in the show was a Summer Associate at Debevoise and a prospective White House counsel candidate was interviewing for a position as an Associate at Debevoise.
Controversial Georgian businessman, Badri Patarkatsishvili spent the six hours of his final day at the offices of Debevoise & Plimpton, meeting his lawyer Lord Goldsmith QC, shortly before being driven to Boris Berezovsky's office in Mayfair and then to his country mansion in Leatherhead, Surrey where he collapsed and died with heart attack at the age of 52.
Key Clients
Some of Debevoise's clients include: American Airlines, AXA, BNP Paribas, CNN, The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Air Lines, Deutsche Bank, Gap, MetLife, JPMorgan Chase, NBC, SONY, The New York Times Company, Goldman Sachs, National Football League, National Hockey League, Prudential Financial, Shell Oil Company, Siemens, Universal Music Group, Verizon, Yahoo!, and Hasbro.
Transactions
- Provided American, English and German law advice to Air Liquide in a number of acquisitions in Germany totaling €2.68 billion.
- Represented Chrysler in 1980, serving as a lead counsel to get governamental financing.
- Represented Alibaba.com in sale of 40% stake to Yahoo for $1 billion.
- Represented American Airlines after the September 11 terrorist attacks
- Counseled The Hartford in a $1.95 billion capital offering of common stock and debt.
- Legal adviser to the Phelps Dodge mining corporation in its $25.9 billion merger with Freeport-McMoRan.
- Legal service provider to French company Pernod Ricard in its €5.6 billion purchase of the Absolut Vodka brand from the Government of Sweden's holding company, the V&S Group.
Assistance to Guantanamo Captives
Attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton worked on behalf of captives held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1][2][3] Jeff Lang, of Debevoise & Plimpton, was one of the first Guantanamo Bay attorneys to file an appeal in the Federal appeal court in Washington DC of captives' Combatant Status Review Tribunal proceedings. The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 included provision for captives to challenge whether the Tribunals' decisions complied with the Tribunal's mandate.
Charles "Cully" Stimson, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo captives: "corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists." [4] Stimson's views were widely criticized. The Pentagon disavowed them and Stimson resigned shortly thereafter.
Offices
New York (1931)
Paris (1964)- Washington, D.C. (1982)
London (1989)
Hong Kong (1994)
Moscow (1997)
Frankfurt (2001)
Shanghai (2002)
See also
- White shoe firms
- The Magic Circle
- Mary Jo White
- Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith
- Michael Mukasey
References
- ^ Shayana Kadidal (May 16, 2007). "Getting Rid of Lawyers at Guantanamo: An Update". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shayana-kadidal/getting-rid-of-lawyers-at_b_48634.html. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ "The Pro Bono Tradition at Debevoise". Debevoise & Plimpton. http://www.debevoise.com/pro_bono/. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ Emma Schwartz (May 15, 2007). "The Latest Guantanamo Debate". Legal Times. http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2007/05/the_latest_guan.html. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
- ^ Lewis, Neil (2007-01-13). "Official attacks top law firms over detainees". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/washington/13gitmo.html. Retrieved 2007-01-17.
External links
Categories:- Law firms established in 1931
- Law firms based in New York City
- Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong
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