2024 Vault Rankings
About Blank Rome LLP
With around 600 attorneys, Blank Rome has been a Philly staple since the 1940s, but the firm isn’t exclusive to the City of Brotherly Love—its 15 offices span the U.S. and China. Over the course of the firm’s existence, Blank Rome has developed into a general practice firm, representing clients in the real estate, financial services, chemical, technology, energy, and life sciences industries and sectors. Adding to the list, the firm recently expanded its focus on consumer financial services; cyber security and data privacy; energy, petrochemical, and natural resources; and intellectual property. Additionally, the firm has nationally and internationally recognized maritime, matrimonial, insurance recovery, and government contracts practices.
Pennsylvania Roots
Blank Rome’s history dates back to its founding as the two-man firm Blank & Rudenko in 1946 by UPenn grads Samuel A. Blank and William B. Rudenko, who wanted to create a diverse and inclusive work environment following their exclusion from other local firms as a result of religious discrimination. Marvin Comisky—whose name was on the masthead for decades—joined the firm in 1959 and served as its first managing partner beginning in 1969. As Chancellor of the Philadelphia bar, Comisky was responsible for the city’s firms ending their practice of religious discrimination in hiring in the mid-1960s.
Wide-Ranging, Yet Focused
While Blank Rome’s practice scope runs the gamut, the firm also boasts some niches. The Manhattan office houses some of the most prominent (read: lucrative) matrimonial and estates and trusts practices in the United States, along with dominant practices in mergers & acquisitions, international and maritime litigation, financial services, and real estate. The firm’s Washington, DC, office is home to leading IP, government contracts, insurance recovery, international trade, shipping, litigation, and government relations practices. Blank Rome is one of a growing handful of firms that have turned to lobbying to complement its legal practice. Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, established in 2003, lobbies on Capitol Hill and in select state capitals, focusing on influencing policy for clients in such areas as technology and communications, energy, defense and national security, transportation, and healthcare.
A Firm that Trials Together
If there is one thing that Blank Rome takes seriously, it is professional development. Each associate helps select a career development advisor focused on that associate’s level and with whom the associate meets at least quarterly. The firm has a competency-based career development framework—which informs assignments—and also a robust feedback process, in which virtually every supervising lawyer actively participates and provides feedback to associates at least twice per year (over 98% participation each time). The firm hosts a variety of training programs, including its annual Blank Rome Trial Academy, through which associates are divided into teams and participate in intensive practice sessions and mock trials—with coaching—in the courthouse at Philadelphia City Hall. Former and active judges serve as judges for the program, and attorneys and staff join in as jurors and witnesses.
News & Awards
- Overturning 25-year precedent, secured a landmark ruling enabling non-biological, same-sex parents, without formal adoption, to seek custody and visitation of co-parented children.
- Blank Rome Partner Edwin P. Rome served as counsel for Aaron “Treetop” Turner, a client on Pennsylvania’s Death Row, representing him for more than 11 years and through five separate trials and appeals, until Mr. Turner was exonerated and freed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
- Represented Tallgrass, a Blackstone-affiliated energy and infrastructure company, in its acquisition of Ruby Pipeline through a competitive auction process supervised by the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. The transaction involved cash consideration of approximately $290 million.
- Represented Novus Capital Corporation II in its $1.34B business combination with Energy Vault, Inc., to develop global, grid-scale energy storage solutions.
- Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality, 2022—Human Rights Campaign
- Summer and Midlevel Associate Satisfaction, 2022—The American Lawyer
- Best Law Firms for Women, 2022—Seramount
- Best Place for Working Parents, 2022—Best Place for Working Parents
- Mansfield Certification Plus 5.0, 2022—Diversity Lab
One Logan Square
130 N. 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: (215) 569-5500
Chair and Managing Partner: Grant S. Palmer
Chair Emeritus: Alan J. Hoffman
Hiring Partners: Susan Bickley, Melanie Carter, Kevin Doherty, Alan Freeman and Shadi Jahangir
Total No. Attorneys (2023):
500 - 750
No. of Partners Named 2023:
12
Los Angeles; New York; and Washington, DC
1st year: $215,000
Summer associate: $4,134/week
Houston; Philadelphia
1st year: $200,000
Summer associate: $3,846/week
Erica B. Rovinsky
Director of Attorney Recruiting
(215) 988-6958
erovinsky@blankrome.com
recruiting@blankrome.com
No. of U.S. Offices: 13
No. of International Offices: 1
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Houston, TX
Los Angeles, CA
New York, NY
Orange County, CA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Princeton, NJ
Tampa, FL
Washington, DC
Wilmington, DE |
Shanghai
Commercial Litigation
Corporate Litigation
Corporate, M&A, & Securities
Energy, Environment, & Mass Torts
Finance, Restructuring, & Bankruptcy
Financial Institutions Litigation and Regulatory Compliance
Government Contracts
Government Relations
Insurance Recovery
Intellectual Property & Technology
Intellectual Property Litigation
International Trade
Labor & Employment
Maritime
Matrimonial & Family Law
Real Estate
Tax, Benefits, & Private Client
White Collar Defense and Investigations
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See firm website for complete list of practice areas and industries