Venable LLP

Venable is a titan of the Mid-Atlantic and is home to over 800 lawyers across 15 nationwide locations.

Baltimore to Nationwide

Venable, Baetjer & Howard was formed in 1900 when Richard Venable, a law professor in Baltimore, partnered with two of his former students. The firm has grown substantially since the turn of this century. A series of mergers that bolstered its government-focused practice, tech offerings, and litigation department led to the firm establishing two locations in California and one in New York. In 2018, the firm bolstered its intellectual property (IP) practice and doubled the number of its NYC attorneys via merger and has continued this growth with a number of new offices in recent years, including Chicago in 2021, three locations in Florida in 2022, and Denver in 2024.

Venerable Specialists

Venable specializes in corporate and business law, complex litigation, IP, and government affairs. The firm’s litigation practice carries a particularly heavy workload in products liability, toxic torts, and environmental law cases, with corporate defense being the group’s clear forte. The firm has defended companies such as Wal-Mart, Merck, ExxonMobil, Perdue Farms, and Ford Motor Co., in widely varied industries.

The firm has a strong IP team that focuses on a range of areas, including copyright, domain names, International Trade Commission matters, licensing, litigation, patents, trade secrets, trademarks, and unfair competition. Many of its attorneys have earned technical degrees—from applied molecular biology, molecular genetics, biochemistry, and organic chemistry to computer and electrical engineering. Some attorneys served as U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examiners before coming to the firm.

With an eye toward serving early-stage companies, Venable has developed Venable Venture Services, which helps startups with all of their multifaceted needs. The firm counsels on corporate structure, employment, financing, IP transactions, and regulatory issues.

Political Power

Venable is no slouch when it comes to political experience—the firm’s past and current attorneys include a U.S. attorney general, a DC attorney general, two Maryland deputy attorneys general, four members of the U.S. Senate (from Arkansas and Indiana and two from Maryland), four members of the U.S. House (from California, Arkansas, Maryland, and Michigan), a former head of the DEA, a secretary of transportation, an administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and 11 federal judges.

Perhaps most noteworthy among Venable’s who’s who are Francis Murnaghan, who sat on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals for 21 years, and Senator Paul Sarbanes, who cosponsored the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and is father to John Sarbanes—a 17-year veteran of Venable and former member of the U.S. House.

• Representing MSC Cruises in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit filed under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, which allegedly prohibits “trafficking” in property that was confiscated by the Cuban government under the Castro regime. MSC Cruises’ alleged “trafficking” involved docking at Havana Docks Corporation’s Cruise Terminal.  Venable, along with another firm, is representing MSC Cruises during the appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which will evaluate whether, among other things, the Helms-Burton Act violates the Due Process clause of the Constitution.
• Venable secured a victory on behalf of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation on a motion to dismiss certain defendants’ counterclaims in patent litigation concerning Novartis’ Entresto drug product. The judge agreed with Novartis that a defendant who files a Section viii statement does not face an Article III controversy of sufficient immediacy to support the exercise of jurisdiction over its counterclaims and that allegations concerning other potential sources of Article III controversy were too speculative to support jurisdiction.
• The National Business Coalition on E-Commerce and Privacy was one of the first industry groups to dedicate itself to actively engaging in federal and state regulatory, legislative, and (when appropriate) judicial activities impacting privacy policy. Venable’s involvement ensures that the Coalition contributes to the public policy debate to encourage policymakers to make changes that are commercially and economically prudent, feasible, and beneficial to American consumers. Venable’s paper, “Data Ownership—The Suitability of a Consumer Property Right in a 21st Century Economy,” remains the definitive analysis on the subject and is relied upon by those advocating on the subject. 
• During the past year, Venable completed five announced transactions for Dechra (a U.K.-listed animal pharmaceutical company) in the United States, where their business is rapidly growing, both organically and through acquisitions of entities and brands.

• More than 200 attorneys named Best Lawyers in America, 2026—Best Lawyers
• 68 Attorneys and 15 practice areas recognized, 2025—Legal 500
• 99 Attorneys and 38 practice areas ranked, 2025—Chambers USA
• Ranked No. 66 in the Am Law 100, 2025—The American Lawyer
• 21 Attorneys recognized in the IAM Patent 1000, 2025—IAM