Squire Patton Boggs

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Group.png Squire Patton Boggs  
(Law firm) Powerbase WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Squire Patton Boggs logo.jpg
Predecessor• Patton Boggs
• Squire Sanders
• Squire Sanders & Dempsey
Formation1962
Member ofAtlantic Council/Corporate Members
Membership• John Boehner
• John Breaux
• Thomas Hale Boggs Jr.
• Al Cardenas
• Joe Crowley
• Bill Shuster
• Jack Evans
• Randy Evans
• Jack Kingston
• Petr Kolář
• Joseph LeBaron
• Trent Lott
• Jim Matheson
• Don McGahn
• David Aldrich Nelson
• Stephen T. Owens
• Rodney Slater
• Frank G. Wisner
• Miomir Žužul
• Francis Allegra
• J. Edward Day
• William Louis Day
• Ronald J. James
• W. John Kenney
• Rob Portman
• Louis Stokes
• Salman Ahmed Al-Ansari
• Nicholas Allard
• Ron Brown
• Timothy Chorba
• Lanny Davis
• Benjamin Ginsberg
• Don Johnson Jr.
• Sean Parnell
• Joseph E. Schmitz
• Clark K. Ervin
• Thomas J. Quigley
• Peter Crossley
• George Blow
• Fred Nance
• Joseph W. Westphal
US law firm and lobbyist with many deep state operatives

Squire Patton Boggs is an international law firm with 45 offices in 20 countries. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of multinational law firm Squire Sanders with Washington, D.C. based Patton Boggs. It is one of the 30 largest law firms in the world by total headcount and gross revenue, twelfth largest firm in the UK by revenue, and one of the top 15 by number of countries occupied.[1] It is also one of the largest US-headquartered law firms in Asia. Its largest offices are in Washington, London and Cleveland, each having more than 100 lawyers.[2] The firm serves a diverse base of legal clients ranging from Fortune 100 and FTSE Index 100 corporations to newly emerging companies, private clients and local and national governmental entities.[3]

Squire Patton Boggs is currently the third-largest lobbying firm in the U.S. after Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.[4] The lobbying arm, long managed by Thomas Hale Boggs Jr., is currently managed by Edward Newberry and Robert Kapla.

History

Squire, Sanders & Dempsey

The firm was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1890 as Squire, Sanders & Dempsey by Cleveland attorneys Andrew Squire and James H. Dempsey, and Judge William B. Sanders. [5][6]

Until the 1990s, it was primarily an Ohio law firm, with the exception of Washington, DC and offices in several other US cities and Brussels It was one of the first US law firms to expand into Eastern Europe in the wake of the Cold War, under the leadership of firm chairman Thomas J. Quigley. It opened several offices in the former Soviet bloc region during the 1990s, taking on a key role in the privatization of state enterprises in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Poland.[7][8]

It subsequently absorbed a number of other legal practices including several Pacific Rim offices of Graham & James and the Florida-based law firm of Steel Hector & Davis.[9] The firm also made overtures toward mergers with Denton Wilde Sapte, Seyfarth Shaw and Bryan Cave under Stanton's leadership.[7]

Hammonds

Hammonds was an international law firm headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom, with offices in Beijing, Berlin, Birmingham, Bradford, Brussels, Hong Kong, Leeds, Madrid, Manchester, Munich and Paris. Hammonds' origins dated back to the founding of a legal practice in Yorkshire in 1887. Although it was a major firm in Yorkshire and the West Midlands region, it did not open a London office until 1991.[7]

In 2000, Hammond Suddards and Edge Ellison merged, forming Hammond Suddards Edge, at that time the 11th-largest law firm in the UK.[10] The firm's rapid expansion left it £30 million in debt in the early 2000s and led to a downsizing through 2005.[8] The firm was ranked 20th in the UK by turnover in The Lawyer UK 100 2006, with a turnover of £132 million. Throughout 2005-2009, the firm underwent significant restructuring under the stewardship of Managing Partner Peter Crossley. As of 2009, the partnership consisted of approximately 180 partners and more than 1,000 employees. Hammonds converted to a Limited Liability Partnership in May 2008.[11]

Hammonds and Squire, Sanders & Dempsey announced that they were in merger talks in August 2010.[12] The partnerships of both firms voted in favor of a merger in November 2010, and it was completed on January 1, 2011, forming the Squire Sanders Swiss association.[13] The merger with Hammonds added offices in Madrid, Berlin, Paris and Munich to the Squire Sanders network, in addition to significantly boosting its presence in the UK where it previously had only 30 lawyers.[8] London overtook Cleveland as the largest office of the combined firm.[7]

The American Lawyer estimated Squire Sanders to be the 24th largest law firm in the world by number of lawyers[14] and 41st by annual revenue[15] as of 2012.

Patton Boggs

The firm of Patton Boggs was founded in 1962 by James R. Patton, Jr. and joined soon after by George Blow and Thomas Hale Boggs, Jr. It has "participated in the formation of every major multilateral trade agreement considered by Congress."[16] Boggs joined the firm in 1966 after serving as an economist for the Joint Economic Committee and in the executive office of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Patton Boggs was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating US$1.7 million, 67% to Democrats.[17] By comparison, during that same period Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld donated US$2.56, 66% to Democrats,[17] while oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated US$2.66 million, 88% to Republicans.[18] Since 1990, Squire Patton Boggs contributed US$14.12 million to federal campaigns, and since 1998 spent US$2.72 million on lobbying.[19]

The 2014 Vault.com survey of more than 18,800 associates ranked Patton Boggs as having the best record for pro bono work in the country,[20] and the firm was among the prestigious white-shoe law firms.[21][22][23]

Following its involvement in a lawsuit with Chevron in Ecuador,[24] Patton Boggs underwent layoffs and partner exits in 2013 amid a 12% drop in revenue, and entered merger talks with Squire Sanders in 2014.[25] The firms announced that they would merge on June 1, 2014 under the name Squire Patton Boggs, adding 330 lawyers to the firm's existing headcount.[26]

Squire Patton Boggs now maintains one of the largest lobbying practices in Washington, D.C., gaining extensively from the merger with Patton Boggs, which was the largest US lobbying firm by revenue between 2003 and 2013.[27][28]

Squire Patton Boggs

As a result of the merger, Patton Boggs closed its Anchorage, Alaska office, and a number of high-profile attorneys left the firm, including Benjamin Ginsberg and two other prominent Republican lawyers who joined Jones Day, and a number of healthcare-policy lawyers who joined Akin Gump.[29]

The combined firm adopted Squire Sanders' existing merit pay system for partners over Patton Boggs' more traditional "eat what you kill" system.[30] Partner compensation under the merit system ranges from US$300,000 for some non-equity partners to US$3 million for the three most highly compensated partners.[7]

The firm currently posts an abnormally high leverage ratio, with almost eight lawyers to every partner, according to its 2014-end-of-the-year numbers for full-time lawyers. The D.C. offices of Squire Sanders and Patton Boggs recently moved into the same building, previously the long-standing home of legacy Patton Boggs. The combined firm kept separate revenue pools for its two legacy partnerships from the June merger until the end of 2014, but these are now unified.[31]

In 2016, the firm announced a merger with San Francisco-based disputes and compliance boutique Carroll, Burdick & McDonough, adding 50 lawyers in California, China, Hong Kong, and Germany, including a new office near Stuttgart, in Böblingen.[32]

In July 2016, the firm opened an office in Darwin, NT, Australia as part of its Asia-Pacific practice group, and presumably in connection to the US military buildup in the area.

The firm announced that effective 1 January 2017, Fred Nance would become Global Managing Partner of Squire Patton Boggs, U.S. LLP, managing 955 attorneys in 36 offices in 16 countries, including U.S., Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. This incorporates 688 lawyers in the US and the Dominican Republic. Nance has also been named to the firm’s six-member executive committee, where he will be the first African-American partner.[33]

In December 2017, the firm acquired litigation boutique Yarbrough Law Group in Dallas, enhancing the firm’s litigation capabilities and continuing its rapid global expansion in cybersecurity and data privacy law. [34]

In February 2018, the firm opened a new office in Atlanta, Georgia.

As of December 2019, Squire Patton Boggs has 45 offices in 20 countries on five continents.

Notable cases and representations

  • Patton Boggs worked in the mid-1990s for the Guatemalan dictatorship, insisting that Sister Dianna Ortiz, who was tortured and raped by members of a death squad, was actually the "victim to an out-of-control, sadomasochistic lover."[35]
  • Georgian tycoon (later prime minister) Bidzina Ivanishvili was Patton Boggs's third-largest lobbying client in 2012. Patton Boggs also lobbied for Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Raytheon and Goldman Sachs around the same time.[36]
  • Represents Takata Corporation before the United States Congress, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and United States Department of Transportation on issues relating to air bag safety.[37]
  • Represents the Palestinian Authority in relation to procuring aid from the United States government.[38]
  • Represents DuPont in multidistrict tort litigation relating to Perfluorooctanoic acid contamination at the Washington Works plant in West Virginia.[39]
  • Represents the government of Turkey as a subcontractor to Gephardt Group in public relations activities related to the Syrian conflict.[40]
  • Advised the government of Myanmar on its 2014 telecom joint venture with KDDI and Sumitomo Corporation.[41]
  • Squire Sanders represented The Sugar Association and sugar producers in litigation against the Corn Refiners Association and high fructose corn syrup industry regarding the marketing of HFCS as an alternative to sugar. Patton Boggs advised two of the corn refiners involved in the case, leading to an inadvertent conflict of interest following the firms' merger.[42]
  • Patton Boggs was sued for damages by Chevron with respect to its activities since Spring 2010 on behalf of Burford Capital and other beneficiaries of a US$18 billion judgment obtained by plaintiffs in Ecuador with respect to environmental and health damages resulting from the actions of Texaco, its subsidiary, in the Lago Agrio oil field. The action against Patton Boggs was part of litigation that had been in progress for at least 20 years in a number of national and international venues and on which Chevron was estimated to spend US$250 million a year.[43] In March 2014, the judge in the case issued a scathing ruling that concluded that the plaintiffs’ lawyer had indeed violated the RICO statute. Patton Boggs agreed to a settlement in the Chevron litigation, and two partners involved in the litigation left the firm, shortly prior to its merger with Squire Sanders, although an ethical claim filed against the firm shortly before the merger was left outstanding.[44]
  • Squire Patton Boggs represented the Central Bank of Venezuela in a US Federal court action to prohibit a website, DolarToday LLC, an offshore website that allegedly misrepresents and falsifies Venezuela’s national currency rates in an attempt to further destabilize the country’s economy. Named defendants include Gustavo Díaz Vivas, formerly a colonel in the Venezuelan Army who is associated with previous attempts at overthrowing the Venezuelan government.[45]
  • Squire Patton Boggs represents defendant Efraín Antonio Campo Flores, one of two Venezuelan Defendants charged with violating various sections of Title 21, USC, by conspiring to fly five kilograms and more of cocaine into the United States. The other Defendant is Franqui Francisco Flores de Freitas. As was widely reported in the press, Mssrs. Campo Flores and Flores De Freitas are cousins, and they are nephews of Cilia Flores, a former Speaker of the Venezuelan National Assembly and current First Lady of Venezuela by virtue of her marriage to Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of Venezuela. Also and at the time of this edit, the international press have widely reported that undercover DEA agents filmed the criminal conspiracy of Mssrs. Campo Flores and Flores De Freitas, and that Haitian and DEA authorities subsequently apprehended them at a hotel in Haiti after traveling by private jet from Caracas. Thereafter, and upon executing a search warrant on the Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic home and 135 foot yacht of Mr. Flores De Freitas, authorities confiscated 10 kilograms heroin and a still undetermined amount of cocaine in 54 packages. Weeks later and presumably after further investigation, Campo Flores requested a public defender reportedly because Squire Patton Boggs, in attempting to comply with the Money Laundering Act of 1986 and subsequent case law, was unable to verify the legal -or clean- origin of their two-million dollar up-front retainer to represent Mr. Campo Flores.[46][47]
  • Square Patton Boggs represented U.S. Ambassador Peter Romero in the Stanford Financial Group ponzi scheme case.[48]
  • in 2016, Square Patton Boggs signed with Saud al-Qahtani to be paid $100,000 per month, plus expenses, for "legal and strategic policy advice and advocacy on foreign policy and related issues in the U.S. Government".[49]
  • Squire Patton Boggs were donors to Trump hardliner Paul Gosar, the congressman from Arizona, who tweeted "Fight for Trump!" and "The time is now! Hold the line" to promote the 6 January 2021 Capitol rally. Squire Patton Boggs did not withdraw funding until six days later, after the New York Times publicised the connection. [50]
  • Represented comedian Dave Chappelle in various transactions since 2005, including his $60 million contract with Netflix in 2016.[51]
  • Serves as secretariat for the Alliance for Biosecurity.[52]


 

Known members

8 of the 41 of the members already have pages here:

MemberDescription
Ron BrownRon Brown was the United States Secretary of Commerce, serving during the first term of President Bill Clinton. He died in a plane crash along with 34 others. 3 months later, Mohammed Ferrat, a business partner, reportedly died aboard TWA 800.
Clark ErvinRhodes scholar, Inspector General of the United States Department of Homeland Security, then lobbyist
Frank Wisner IIFormer US Secretary of State, son of Frank Wisner of the mighty wurlitzer
Trent Lott
Don McGahnAmerican lawyer who was White House Counsel for U.S. President Donald Trump, but resigned.
Joseph SchmitzRevolving door between government official and Blackwater merecenaries
Louis StokesLeader of the 1976 House Select Committee on Assassinations
Joseph W. Westphal
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References

  1. ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidparnell/2014/05/23/patton-boggs-and-squire-sanders-formerly-agree-on-their-merger/
  2. ↑ http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/02/squire_patton_boggs_merges_wit.html
  3. ↑ https://www.natlawreview.com/organization/squire-patton-boggs-us-llp
  4. ↑ http://www.law360.com/publicpolicy/articles/748054?nl_pk=82706e37-7777-4f8b-9e3c-0c44cfd8718f
  5. ↑ https://archive.org/details/historyofclevela01orth/page/n209130
  6. ↑ https://case.edu/ech/articles/s/squire-sanders-and-dempsey
  7. ↑ a b c d e http://www.americanlawyer.com/home/id=1202660207505/The-Story-Behind-the-Squire-SandersPatton-Boggs-TieUp
  8. ↑ a b c http://www.chambersstudent.com/Law/WebExtras/177
  9. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20110925232518/http://www.ssd.com/Squire_Sanders_Partners_Approve_Western_Australia_Combination/
  10. ↑ http://www.thelawyer.com/gaining-the-edge/86965.article
  11. ↑ http://www.thelawyer.com/hammonds-converts-to-llp/132512.article
  12. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082704716.html
  13. ↑ http://www.thelawyer.com/hammonds-squire-sanders-win-90-per-cent-backing-for-merger/1006057.article
  14. ↑ http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202571229481
  15. ↑ http://www.americanlawyer.com/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202571228982
  16. ↑ "About Us", Patton Boggs
  17. ↑ a b http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?ind=K&Bkdn=DemRep&cycle=2012
  18. ↑ http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?ind=E&Bkdn=DemRep&cycle=2012
  19. ↑ http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000067299&cycle=A
  20. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20140804031613/http://www.vault.com/company-profiles/law/patton-boggs-llp/company-reviews
  21. ↑ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3140608/posts
  22. ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2013-06-24/more-trouble-in-big-law-weil-gotshal-and-patton-bog
  23. ↑ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-hinton/seven-years-documenting-c_b_7479948.html
  24. ↑ http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/09/the-fall-of-the-house-of-boggs-110989
  25. ↑ https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/03/26/merger-talks-between-patton-boggs-squire-sanders-moving-forward/
  26. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/patton-boggs-agrees-to-merger-with-squire-sanders/2014/05/23/7f7e31ee-cb09-11e3-a75e-463587891b57_story.html
  27. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323683504578565383059487410
  28. ↑ https://shadowproof.com/2010/12/05/chris-christie-patton-boggs-contract-shows-disturbing-trend/
  29. ↑ https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2014/05/30/some-high-profile-exits-from-patton-boggs-amid-merger/
  30. ↑ http://www.thelawyer.com/analysis/the-lawyer-management/merger-watch/squire-patton-boggs-to-run-with-merit-based-remuneration-structure-post-merger/3021113.article
  31. ↑ http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202721637806/Squire-Patton-Boggs-Shows-Stable-Revenue-Per-Lawyer-After-Merger?back=DC&kw=Squire%20Patton%20Boggs%20Shows%20Stable%20Revenue%20Per%20Lawyer%20After%20Merger&et=editorial&bu=National%20Law%20Journal&cn=20150326&src=EMC-Email&pt=Legal%20Times%20Afternoon%20Update
  32. ↑ https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2016/02/22/merger-alert-squire-patton-boggs-grabs-san-francisco-firm/
  33. ↑ http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2016/11/fred_nance_to_head_squire_patt.html
  34. ↑ https://www.squirepattonboggs.com/en/news/2017/12/squire-patton-boggs-acquires-dallas-litigation-boutique
  35. ↑ https://archive.org/details/latinamericaincr0000sher%7Curl-access=registratio
  36. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/patton-boggs-becomes-mired-in-an-epic-legal-battle-with-chevron-over-jungle-oil-pits/2013/06/28/5933e834-cc91-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html
  37. ↑ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/05/business/corporate-business/takatas-lobby-spending-rises-22-recall-scrutiny-intensifies/#.VcmOAXGqpi8
  38. ↑ http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2015/07/29/palestinians-hire-dla-piper-top-law-firm-to-lobby-for-them/
  39. ↑ http://wvrecord.com/stories/510630321-federal-judge-denies-two-motions-filed-in-dupont-mdl
  40. ↑ Sassounian, Harut. (19 August 2015) "Turkey Pays Former CIA Director and Lobbyists to Misrepresent Attacks on Kurds and ISIS". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 August 2015. Huffington Post website
  41. ↑ http://www.legalbusinessonline.com/deals/linklaters-allens-squire-patton-boggs-star-myanmar-telecom-alliance/66453
  42. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/squire-may-be-forced-off-major-case-after-conflict-check-error-in-patton-boggs-merger/2014/11/07/c0d873b4-63a4-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html
  43. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/patton-boggs-becomes-mired-in-an-epic-legal-battle-with-chevron-over-jungle-oil-pits/2013/06/28/5933e834-cc91-11e2-8f6b-67f40e176f03_story.html
  44. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-27/patton-partners-tainted-by-chevron-pollution-case-wont-stay-with-new-firm
  45. ↑ https://www.oilandgas360.com/venezuelas-central-bank-files-lawsuit-to-shut-down-black-market-currency-website-dolartoday-for-falsifying-exchange-rates/
  46. ↑ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-17/venezuela-president-s-relatives-plead-not-guilty-to-drug-charges
  47. ↑ http://www.univision.com/noticias/narcotrafico/hallan-cocaina-en-residencia-de-familiar-de-maduro-en-dominicana
  48. ↑ http://www.dallasnews.com/business/business-headlines/20150211-ex-ambassador-says-he-had-no-earthly-idea-of-stanford-fraud.ece
  49. ↑ FARA registration, US department of Justice
  50. ↑ https://nyti.ms/3vaRQHW
  51. ↑ http://www.americanlawyer.com/home/id=1202773082327/Squire-Patton-Boggs-Helps-Chappelle-Snag-60M-Netflix-Deal
  52. ↑ Who we are. Alliance for Biosecurity. Retrieved June 20, 2022, from http://archive.today/2022.05.22-144645/https://www.allianceforbiosecurity.com/who-we-are
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