2022 DIVERSITY DATABASE PREMIUM SPONSOR Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Morgan Lewis has branched out from its Philadelphia roots to build a global network of lawyers in more than 30 offices, reaching from Boston to Singapore and San Francisco to Dubai. The firm’s strengths include litigation, labor and employment, employee benefits, intellectual property, energy, investment management, structured transactions, and a variety of regulatory areas.

Philly Roots, Global Presence

Morgan Lewis was founded in Philadelphia in 1873 by Charles Eldridge Morgan, Jr., a Civil War vet, and Francis Draper Lewis, a cotton merchant’s son. Ten years later, Morgan and Lewis hired Morris Rex Bockius, who became a driving force behind the firm for nearly four decades. In the early 1880s, the firm’s fortunes soared when it acquired United Gas Improvement Company as a client; the company eventually grew into the largest gas and electricity operation in the United States and remains a Morgan Lewis client to this day. 

Based largely on the profile it built from representing United Gas, Morgan Lewis brought key newspapers, railroads, paper companies, rail companies, and financial institutions into the fold in the ensuing decades. The firm has expanded beyond its long-held East Coast clients and now represents nearly 90 percent of the Fortune 100 companies, while at the same time maintaining relationships with its long-term clients.

From Labor to Energy

Practicing across the energy, financial services, health care, life sciences, retail, sports, technology, and transportation sectors, Morgan Lewis has a diverse range of experience. The firm has four core practices: corporate, finance, and investment management; IP; labor, employment, and benefits; and litigation, regulation, and investigations.

Morgan Lewis is perhaps best known for its labor and employment work. Nearly 400 of the firm’s lawyers counsel clients on a range of employment and labor issues, from benefits and ERISA to executive compensation and global employment matters and from labor relations and OSHA matters to wage and hour issues and whistleblowing—plus many more. The firm is among the top five in Vault’s Labor & Employment ranking. And the practice even has its own twitter handle: @MLWORKFORCE.

The firm also boasts an impressive energy practice, which crosses borders and practices to deliver advice for its clients’ complex issues. Morgan Lewis lawyers handle all facets of energy transactions—from development to financing to acquisition to divestiture of resources—as well as regulatory issues regarding energy. The firm has experience handling matters relating to oil and gas, electric, nuclear, and renewable energy.

Big Impact

Morgan Lewis lawyers contributed almost 125,000 pro bono hours in 2021 to more than 2,100 pro bono clients. Every lawyer in the firm recorded at least 20 hours to pro bono matters, with the average hours per attorney being closer to 55 hours. In addition to its year-round pro bono and community service initiatives, all of Morgan Lewis’ offices collaborate on an annual Community Impact Week, a global firm initiative comprising over 100 community service and pro bono-related programs. The firm has five full-time lawyers running the program, including a partner who focuses exclusively on impact litigation and serves as the firm’s first Senior Pro Bono Trial Lawyer.

• Secured a $1.5 million jury verdict for Public Broadcasting Service in a breach of contract case stemming from the high-profile sexual misconduct suspension of former talk show host Tavis Smiley.
• Advised 23andMe Inc., a leading consumer genetics and research company, in its transaction with VG Acquisition Corp. (VGAC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Virgin Group.
• Represented bp in finalizing the company’s strategic U.S. offshore wind partnership with Equinor, including bp’s $1.1 billion purchase from Equinor of a 50% interest in two major lease areas off the US East Coast.
• Secured affirmation of a complete victory at trial for E*TRADE Financial Corp. following trade secret misappropriation claims regarding wireless stock trading software.

• A-List Law Firm, 2020—The American Lawyer
• Client Service 30, 2002-2021—BTI Client Service A-Team
• #1, Breadth of Commitment, Pro Bono Scorecard, 2021—The American Lawyer
• Gold Standard Certification, 2015–2021—Women in Law Empowerment Forum
• Mansfield Certification Plus, 2019, 2020—Diversity Lab