History

The history of our Firm has followed the path of America. We have been privileged to advise many of the inventors, entrepreneurs and financiers who built the nation into an economic powerhouse, and to use our advocacy to uphold constitutional principles of equality, liberty, press freedom and the separation of powers.

In the 19th century, we represented Wells Fargo and other express companies in disputes with the railroads while also reorganizing many of the largest railroads, from the Baltimore & Ohio to the Union Pacific to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. Our work with innovators included securing the patent for Samuel Morse’s telegraph, winning respectable royalties for Elias Howe in his patent litigation with Isaac Singer over the sewing machine, and litigating to enforce Thomas Edison’s light filament patents.

In the early 20th century, we handled the financing that saved General Motors, reorganized Westinghouse Electric and won the landmark Schechter Poultry case reinforcing the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government. We also helped launch the first generation of media companies, Time Inc. and NBC, while defending Esquire magazine against censorship.

In the 1950s, we represented Bethlehem Steel in the steel strikes, protecting the industry from an overreach of presidential power. From the 1950s to the 1970s, we twice defended IBM against being broken up by the U.S. Department of Justice. On the day that the breakup of AT&T was announced, the DOJ said it was dismissing its 13-year-old suit against IBM because it had no merit. We took The Washington Post public in the midst of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, employing an innovative share structure to protect editorial freedom. We also litigated to secure locker room access for female sports reporters who had theretofore been disadvantaged in covering professional sports. Our lawyers wrote the brief that took the case of the Freedom Riders to the Supreme Court.

In the 1980s, we made law and innovations in takeovers, from establishing the right of a board of directors to "just say no" to using a proxy fight to bolster a hostile bid. We also helped to develop the junk bond market and create the foundation of the derivatives market. At the same time, in the same courthouse in Manhattan, we simultaneously defended Time magazine and CBS’s “60 Minutes” against infringements on press freedom.

In the 1990s, we assisted the birth of big media, advising Capital Cities/ABC in its acquisition by Disney, CBS in its merger with Westinghouse and Time Warner in its acquisition of Turner, and we formed DreamWorks SKG. We advised on other transformative mergers during that decade, including Chemical Bank’s merger with Manufacturers Hanover, Dean Witter’s combination with Morgan Stanley, Boeing’s acquisition of McDonnell Douglas, and Guinness plc’s acquisition of Grand Met to create Diageo. We structured the earliest syndicated acquisition financings for major private equity firms, helping to establish what is currently a trillion-dollar market.

At the start of the 21st century, we advised the boards of Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and Fannie Mae in navigating the financial crisis, and HM Treasury in rescuing the U.K.’s largest banks. We have been at the forefront of reshaping the media sector, handling Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Viacom’s merger with CBS, and Time Warner’s sale to AT&T, including defending the first fully litigated challenge to a vertical merger in 40 years. In the new frontier of biologics and gene therapy, we advised J&J in its acquisition of Actelion, AveXis in its sale to Novartis, and we defended Amgen in a precedent‑setting patent case to bring the first biosimilar of Humira to market in the U.S. and Europe.‎ We secured a Supreme Court victory for‎ American Express against the DOJ’s challenge to its merchant agreements and defended Qualcomm’s patent licensing and modem chipset businesses in litigation with Apple.

Our recent work to advance justice and civil rights has included assisting individuals seeking asylum, families separated and detained in the El Paso, Texas region, and seeking to extend the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Throughout our history, our lawyers have been inspired to do work that has an impact, from the private sector to the public sphere.