Fortune 500: Who Represents Who?

In a recent National Law Journal survey of Fortune 500 GCs, “Who Represents Corporate America”, we get a decent (though imperfect) snapshot of some of the law firms which GCs themselves rank and view as their top providers. Below is an abbreviated look at 9 companies and their preferred firms:

Wal-Mart: Fortune 500 Rank: #1, 2012 Revenues: $469.16B, Employees: 2,200,000; Contracts: Bryan Cave, Foley, Reed Smith; Labor: Littler Mendelson; Torts: Bradley Arant, Greenberg Traurig, Lewis Brisbois, Marshall Dennehey, Nelson Mullins, Shook Hardy; IP: Buchalter, Davis Wright, Gibson Dunn

ExxonMobil: Fortune 500 Rank: #2, 2012 Revenues: $449.89B, Employees: 88,000; Contracts: Hill Rivkins; Labor: Jackson Lewis, Ogletree Deakins; Torts: McGuireWoods; IP: Kirkland & Ellis

JPMorgan Chase: Fortune 500 Rank: #18, 2012 Revenues: $108.18B, Employees: 258,965; Contracts: Duane Morris, Dykema, McGlinchey Stafford, Morgan Lewis, Ogletree Deakins; Labor: Morgan Lewis, Ogletree Deakins; Torts: Bryan Cave, Carlton Fields, Stites & Harbison; Patents: Covington

Google: Fortune 500 Rank: #55, 2012 Revenues: $52.2B, Employees: 53,861; Torts: Perkins Coie; IP: Mayer Brown, Perkins Coie, Quinn Emanuel; Patent: Bracewell & Giuliani, Fish & Richardson, Greenberg Traurig, K&L Gates, Kilpatrick, Morris Nichols, Potter Anderson, Potter Minton, Richards Layton, Wilson Sonsini

Nike: Fortune 500 Rank: #126, 2012 Revenues: $24.13B, Employees: 44,000; Contracts: Gibson Dunn, King & Spalding; IP: Banner & Witcoff, DLA Piper, Lewis & Roca; Patents: Banner & Witcoff, DLA Piper, Lewis & Roca

Apple: Fortune 500 Rank: #6, 2012 Revenues: $156.51B, Employees: 76,100; Labor: Littler Mendelson, Morgan Lewis, Walraven and Westerfeld; Torts: Thompson Coburn; IP: Gibson Dunn, Greenberg Traurig, Mayer Brown; Patent: Fish & Richardson, Gibson Dunn, Greenberg Traurig, Jones Day, Kirkland & Eillis, Lewis & Roca, Potter Anderson, Potter Minton, Ropes & Gray, Weil, Wilmer

Wells Fargo: Fortune 500 Rank: #25, 2012 Revenues: $91.25B, Employees: 269,200; Contracts: Akerman Senterfitt, Baker & Hostetler, Baker Donelson, Bryan Cave, Burr & Forman, Dinsmore & Shohl, Dykema, Faegre, Greenberg Traurig, Holland & Hart, Lane Powell, McGlinchey Stafford, Nelson Mullins, Ogletree Deakins, Plunkett Cooney, Reed Smith, Seyfarth Shaw, Wilson Elser, Womble Carlyle; Labor: Jackson Lewis, Littler Mendelson, Morgan Lewis, Ropers Majeski, Seyfarth Shaw, Walraven and Westerfeld; Torts: Baker Donelson, Bradley Arant, Bryan Cave, Carlton Fields, Kirkland & Ellis, McGlinchey Stafford, McGuireWoods, Nelson Mullins, Reed Smith, Snell & Wilmer; Patent: Kilpatrick

Amazon: Fortune 500 Rank: #49, 2012 Revenues: $61.09B, Employees: 88,400; IP: Davis Wright, Fenwick & West, Greenberg Traurig, Mayer Brown, Perkins Coie; Patent: Alston & Bird, Duane Morris, Fish & Richardson, Fulbright & Jaworski, K&L Gates, Kilpatrick, Lewis & Roca, Morris Nichols, Potter Anderson

Starbucks: Fortune 500 Rank: #208, 2012 Revenues: $13.3B, Employees: 160,000; Contracts: Dinsmore & Shohl; Labor: Epstein Becker; Torts: Perkins Coie, Wilson Elser; IP: Fish & Richardson; Patent: Bracewell & Guiliani, Kilpatrick, Kirkland & Ellis

The 2013 Patent Litigation Survey

Corporate Counsel recently released its 2013 Patent Litigation Survey, a study which ranks firms based on the number of federal district court patent suits handled annually. The biggest takeaway from their findings….the practice area remains hot. According to the October 21 release article by Lisa Shuchman, “The year 2012 saw a little bit of everything: Massive damages awards, increasingly brazen patent assertion entities, and the major patent reform law passed in 2011 beginning to make its mark.”

RANK   FIRM                             2012 RANK    +/- CHANGE        TOTAL CASES

1          Fish & Richardson         1                        0                         220

T-2        Finnegan Henderson      8                      +6                        95

T-2        Kirkland & Ellis              5                      +3                         95

4          Winston & Strawn          9                      +5                         94

T-5        Cooley                          12                     -7                          90

T-5        DLA Piper                     6                      +1                         90

7          Alston & Bird                13                     +6                          88

8          Greenberg Traurig          10                     +2                        86

T-9        Perkins Coie                 7                      -2                          85

T-9        Richards Layton            —                      —                           85

The top 10 was led by Fish & Richardson. Fish handled a whopping 220 total cases, more than double the next closest firms, Finnegan Henderson and Kirkland & Ellis at 95 each. Other firms making repeat appearances in the top 10 include Winston & Strawn, DLA Piper, Greenberg Traurig, and Perkins Coie. Rounding out the top 10 were top 10 newcomers Cooley, Alston & Bird, and Richards Layton.

Among all 71 firms making the list, defendant side cases made up the majority of the representation. There were 3,119 cases total, with a split of 74% on the defendant-side and 26% on the plaintiff-side. The only firms among the 71 ranked that more often represented plaintiffs include Niro Haller, McKool Smith, Haynes and Boone, McCarter & English, Blank Rome, Fitzpatrick Cella, Morris Manning, Cantor Colburn, Kirton McConkie, Oblon, and Moore & Van Allen.