Locke Lord LLP

Locke Lord is a full-service, international law firm of 20 offices and about 600 attorneys in locations across the U.S., as well as in Brussels and London. Locke Lord has received numerous industry recognitions as a global leader in the middle-market sector.

A History of Mergers

Locke Lord can trace its roots to the founding of three firms in a seven-year period in the late 1800s in Boston, Dallas, and Providence. A couple of decades later, John Lord opened a firm in Chicago in 1914, and another predecessor firm would open in Houston in 1916. Nearly a century later, these predecessor firms began combining, beginning with the Dallas and Houston firms merging in 1999 to form Locke Liddell & Sapp, in what was the largest law firm merger in U.S. history to that point. Sixteen years and five mergers later, the modern Locke Lord emerged in 2015.

All the Way to the Bank

Locke Lord advises clients across a broad spectrum of industries, including energy; financial services; fund formation; healthcare; insurance and reinsurance; private equity and venture capital; public finance; real estate; and technology, media, and telecommunications, while providing a wealth of experience through its complex litigation, intellectual property, tax, regulatory, and transactional teams. Locke Lord’s clients range from Fortune 500 and middle-market public and private companies to startups and emerging businesses. Some key clients include Wells Fargo, Johnson & Johnson, and Deutsche Bank AG, among others. The firm is most noted, however, for its work in the middle market.

Diversity is a Key to Success

Locke Lord has a history of successfully placing women in powerful places. Harriet Miers was the firm’s first female managing partner, leading the firm from 1996 until 2001, when she joined the George W. Bush Administration. Miers served as Staff Secretary, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and Counsel to the President before returning to the firm in 2007, where she continues to practice. There are three women on the firm’s Executive Committee, including Jennifer Kenedy, one of three vice chairs of the firm. Female attorneys manage nine of Locke Lord’s offices. Locke Lord’s groups and committees help promote a firmwide philosophy of inclusion and action, helping raise scholarship money for minority and economically disadvantaged students, hosting holiday parties for lower-income children, donating to local food banks and charitable organizations, and supporting longtime firm programs like flexible work arrangements, domestic partner benefits, and the women’s initiative.

• Represented WellCare as national insurance and healthcare regulatory counsel in its $17.3 billion merger with Centene.
• Represented an affiliate of Enterprise Products Partners in the acquisition of Navitas from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus for $3.25 billion.
• Secured ruling in favor of Academy as the Supreme Court of Texas granted its petition to overturn lower court decisions that allowed lawsuits brought by victims and families of a 2017 mass shooting to proceed.
• Secured a not guilty verdict against Dr. Ray Ng in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit illegal remunerations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

• Mansfield Certification Plus status, 2022—Diversity Lab
• Corporate Equality Index 100% rating, 2009-2022—Human Rights Campaign  
• Ranked No. 96, 2023—AmLaw 100 
• 64 lawyers, 26 practice areas recognized; eight lawyers achieved Band 1 rankings, 2022—Chambers USA 
• 152 lawyers recognized, six Lawyer of the Year recipients; 38 lawyers recognized as Ones to Watch, 2023—Best Lawyers in America®