Foley & Lardner LLP

Although Foley & Lardner handles a wide range of business matters, the majority of the firm’s major clients are in the automotive, energy, healthcare, life science, and technology fields. With an excellent healthcare practice and a client roster boasting corporate staples such as Harley-Davidson and Cummins, Milwaukee’s best firm has grown into an international operation while maintaining local allegiances.

Midwestern Roots, Global Reach

Foley & Lardner was founded in 1842 in Milwaukee when Asahel Finch and William Pitt Lynde opened shop before the city had even paved its roads. More than a century passed before the firm established a presence outside Wisconsin, creating a DC branch as it became the first Badger State firm to establish an office outside the state. From the late 20th century into the early 21st century, the firm underwent several mergers and continued to expand around the country and globe. The firm’s most recent merger in 2018 with Gardere Wynne Sewell led the firm to the Lone Star State and Mexico City. Today, the firm has 23  domestic offices and 3 international offices.

In Good Health

Foley & Lardner is organized into three major divisions—business law, intellectual property, and litigation—that encompass more than 60 practice areas. The firm takes a sector-driven service approach, with a focus on energy, healthcare, life science , innovative technology, and manufacturing. This approach has also put Foley in a strong position to address some of the most pressing trends shaping businesses, from supply chain disruption and environmental, social, and governance to digital health and artificial intelligence.

The firm is known for its Health Care & Life Sciences practice, which focuses on litigation , M&A, international healthcare, post-acute care, senior housing, telemedicine, and other matters. Foley & Lardner’s lawyers leverage a variety of experiences, including as former healthcare practitioners and officials in government agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services.

The lawyers in the Foley & Lardner IP practice have extensive experience in developing IP strategy, completing patent applications, handling IP litigation, performing due diligence, and counseling on trademark and copyright issues.

Virtual Assistance

Foley & Lardner prides itself in being a technology leader that provides tools that support both internal and external clients. According to the firm, its “AI-driven legal research and document production tools support the matter life-cycle, while our pricing tool provides billing transparency and client control throughout the process.” The firm’s client extranet, Foley Collaborate, hosts a secure workspace that clients can access from anywhere and use to manage their matters and documents.

• The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the trademark registration of client Booking.com, overturning the USPTO’s “generic.com” argument
• Represented BP America Production Company in its $10.5 billion acquisition of most of BHP Billiton Petroleum (North America) Inc.’s onshore U.S. oil and natural gas assets
• Co-counsel in a U.S. Supreme Court tax victory for U.S. subsidiaries of Canadian National Railway in a ruling that the subsidiaries, and their employees, were entitled to refunds of Railroad Retirement Tax on CN stock distributed to employees when they exercised stock options
• Secured a complete victory for direct-selling wellness company Neora in a landmark case against the FTC when the court denied the FTC’s requested relief on all five of its claims: pyramid, income, product, agency, and means and instrumentalities, ruling that the FTC’s claims were invalid. This is the first time a direct-selling company has defeated the FTC’s pyramid scheme claims in a court trial and it is also the first victory of its kind since Amway’s 1979 administrative law defeat of the FTC.

• Bloomberg Law named Foley to its second Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Framework as one of 43 U.S.-based law firms recognized for its level of disclosure of diversity-related metrics and distinguished performance across six core pillars: demographics, leadership and talent pipeline, recruitment and retention, business innovation and strategy, marketing, and diversity & inclusion in the community. Perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index for the eleventh consecutive year, 2023—Human Rights Campaign
• 114 recognized Foley attorneys and 45 practice rankings, 2024— Chambers USA
• America’s Top Law Firms, 2024 – TIME
• 28 national Tier 1 rankings, 136 metropolitan Tier 1 rankings, 2024— Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms”