2024 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 30+ offices, reaching from Boston to Singapore and from 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 veteran, 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% of Fortune 100 companies while maintaining relationships with its long-term clients.

From Labor to Energy

Practicing across the energy, financial services, healthcare, 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; Intellectual Property/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, ERISA, and executive compensation to global employment matters and from labor relations and OSHA matters to wage and hour issues, whistleblowing, and many more. The firm is among the top five in Vault’s Labor & Employment ranking. And this practice group has its own Twitter/X handle: @MLWORKFORCE.

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

Big Impact

Morgan Lewis contributed more than 115,883 pro bono hours to more than 2,100 pro bono clients in FY 2023. Every lawyer in the firm recorded at least 20 hours on pro bono matters, with approximately 66 average hours per attorney. In addition to year-round pro bono and community service initiatives, all 30+ of Morgan Lewis’ offices collaborate on an annual Community Impact Week, a global firm initiative comprising 175 community service- and pro bono-related programs. More than 1,500 lawyers and staff participate in the program. 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.

• Morgan Lewis secured a historic settlement for Black families combating nearly a century of government-sponsored segregation in Baltimore—using funds to launch our ML Foundation granting scholarships to  promising law students.
• Morgan Lewis filed an amicus brief for 379 employers in the landmark Obergefell US Supreme Court case that recognized the constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
• Morgan Lewis represented the US Soccer Federation in collective bargaining, culminating in first-of-their-kind equal pay agreements for the women’s and men’s national teams.
• Morgan Lewis secured the right to lawful US citizenship for the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) soldiers and veterans through litigation against the US government and is now funding a two-year, full-time legal fellowship to guide the naturalization process. 

• A-List Law Firm, The American Lawyer (2018–2023)
• Most Prestigious Firms, Vault Guide to Top 100 Law Firms (2014–2024)
• Mansfield Certification Plus, Diversity Lab (2019–2023)
• Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality, Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index (2024) | Recognized since 2009
• Best Law Firms for Women, 2020–2023 Seramount