Sheppard

With expertise in a variety of practices, including corporate, litigation, employment, intellectual property, antitrust, and finance, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP has grown remarkably in recent times. The firm has added several industry-focused practices, including healthcare, insurance, and entertainment work, and serves clients such as Allstate Insurance, Disney, Mastercard, Peloton, and Spotify.

Starting Up

Sheppard, as it is known today, entered the world in 1927 as Haight & Mathes, the brainchild of two young lawyers who left a small Los Angeles firm to strike out on their own. James Sheppard joined the nascent firm the following year. Name partners J. Stanley Mullin and George Richter cut their teeth as law clerks during the waning days of the Great Depression. With the 1938 hiring of Harvard grad Gordon Hampton, the firm’s quartet on the nameplate was complete and has been maintained through today; such longevity is rare in this age of mergers, spin-offs, and partner raids. Given the history of prestigious attorneys who have graced Sheppard’s halls, the firm’s continued success and growth are not surprising.

They’ve Got It Covered

You may need an abacus to count all of the industries that Sheppard supports. The firm’s history includes experience in blockchain, cannabis, venture capital, entertainment, esports, financial services, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, private equity, real estate investment trusts, and transportation.

The firm is well-known for its labor and employment practice, which ranks among the top 10 in Vault’s practice area rankings. Sheppard attorneys counsel all types of clients, from Fortune 100 companies to startups. They serve as a go-to employment counselor for many clients by providing advice on employment agreements, employee arbitration agreements and handbooks, sexual harassment policies, and other workplace issues. Sheppard lawyers also handle myriad employment litigation issues—from affirmative action, discrimination, and whistle blower actions to wages and hours matters. In addition, the firm counsels clients on union management and relations.

Sheppard also boasts a reputable and growing healthcare practice, with more than 250 lawyers handling some of the largest healthcare services deals aimed to accelerate innovation in primary care delivery, enhance the healthcare experience, and improve patient health outcomes. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, these attorneys handle a range of issues related to healthcare, including antitrust, compliance, cybersecurity, fraud, HIPAA, licensing, litigation, private equity, and regulatory matters.

Supporting Diversity

When it comes to diversity and inclusion, Sheppard puts its money where its mouth is. The firm supports firmwide affinity groups for women, people of color, veterans, and LGBTQ+ individuals—all of which are open to allies. These groups, along with locally driven Office Working Groups, help foster a strong sense of belonging and promote a more inclusive workplace. The firm offers a gender-neutral parental leave, individualized wellness coaching, financial planning coaching, and mentoring programs. Moreover, Sheppard provides billable hour credit to all attorneys who participate in initiatives that support the firm’s culture of inclusion.

• Lead counsel to Ascension Health, one of the nation’s leading Catholic health systems, in its planned acquisition of outpatient surgery company AMSURG, for a media-reported price of $3.9 billion.
• Achieved a landmark resolution, a historic $3.3 billion settlement, for Rupert Murdoch in the high-profile battle over the Murdoch Family Trust.
• Representing multiple parties, including municipalities such as the Cities of Pasadena and Santa Monica; UCLA, USC and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; and the Rose Bowl Operating Company in negotiating venue agreements to host events in connection with the 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, Athletes Village, soccer, track and field, and diving.
• Worked with George Clooney to ink an agreement for CNN to distribute the final performance of his Broadway show Good Night, and Good Luck. Sheppard represented producers Participant Pictures and 2929 Entertainment, which was co-founded by Mark Cuban.

• No. 4 in the Summer Associate Satisfaction Survey rankings, 2025—Law360
• No. 12 in the Midlevel Associates Survey, 2025—The American Lawyer
• No. 33 among AmLaw 200 firms on the A-List, 2025—The American Lawyer
• Healthcare Practice Group of the Year for two consecutive years, 2024 and 2025—Law360
• Named a Most Admired Law Firm in Los Angeles in 2025 (Los Angeles Business Journal) and a Best Place to Work in New York in 2025 (Crain’s); San Francisco and Silicon Valley, 2025 (San Francisco Business Times); and Dallas, 2025 (Dallas Business Journal)