2024 DIVERSITY DATABASE UNDERWRITER WilmerHale

With 1,100 lawyers across the United States, Asia, and Europe, WilmerHale is a litigation powerhouse known for its work in IP, securities, and appellate litigation, as well as its life sciences and technology experience. The firm counsels clients in a range of industries, including aviation; big data; education; energy, environment, and natural resources; financial services; healthcare; insurance; media and entertainment; national security; professional services; and technology. 

Beantown Meets the Beltway

WilmerHale was formed in 2004 when Hale and Dorr LLP and Wilmer Cutler Pickering LLP joined forces. Legacy firm Hale & Dorr was founded in 1918. Among other issues, the firm was known for its work on government matters. Firm lawyer Joseph Welch represented the U.S. Army in the legendary U.S. Army-McCarthy congressional proceedings. Jim St. Clair left the firm in the 1970s to become Special Counsel to Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.

Wilmer Cutler & Pickering was launched in the 1960s in DC. Like Hale & Dorr, the firm demonstrated experience working in government. Its attorneys were counsel to Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. And the firm laid the groundwork for a future commitment to pro bono as the first signatory to the ABA Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge. 

Doing It All

WilmerHale is a full-service shop handling everything from antitrust, bank regulation, bankruptcy, cybersecurity, M&A, and IP to tax and white collar. 

The foundation of WilmerHale’s success is its IP practice. The firm combines technical expertise—more than 120 of its lawyers hold scientific or technical degrees—with BigLaw firepower. The firm annually secures hundreds of patents and trademark registrations worldwide. A definitive aspect of IP Department excellence has been the firm’s sophisticated multijurisdictional representation of high-profile all-star IP clients, including Apple, Abbott Laboratories, Intel, Broadcom Corp., Boeing, Boston Scientific, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Monsanto, Novartis, Oracle, Pfizer, and Wyeth. 

The firm is also known for its Appellate & Supreme Court Litigation practice. WilmerHale attorneys have argued more than 140 cases before SCOTUS and are regulars before state and federal appellate courts. The firm has been named to The National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List every year for over a decade.

In the life sciences area, the firm exhibits a multidisciplinary approach. Clients include biotechnology, pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. The group works across these industries in corporate finance, licensing, M&A, patent issues and IP counseling, regulatory matters, and other areas.

Harvard Do-Gooders

In 1992, Hale & Dorr lawyers donated money to establish the WilmerHale Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School, which is a practicum teaching facility through which Harvard law students help people in the community with estate planning, domestic violence and veteran’s issues, tax law, and housing and predatory lending matters. Firm attorneys work through the Center to provide hundreds of hours of pro bono service.

• Represented Caroline Ellison in connection with the government's investigation into the collapse of Alameda Research.
• Conducted a review following the removal of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from the OpenAI Board of Directors.
• Represented Harvard University in a high-profile challenge to the use of race in its undergraduate admissions process, including victories in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts and First Circuit.
• Represented Apple in its long-running smartphone patent dispute with Samsung Electronics.
• Achieved a precedent-setting victory for pro bono client Lisa Ricchio in the first civil sex trafficking case filed against a motel under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

• Best Diversity Initiative Finalist, The American Lawyer 2023
• Mansfield 6.0 Certified Plus
• Best Law Firms for Women for 17 Consecutive Years, 2023—Seramount
• 2023 Thomas L. Sager Award Finalist, MCCA 2023