Duane Morris LLP is a

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

headquartered in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Founded in 1904 as Duane, Morris, Heckscher, & Roberts, the firm has offices in the United States, London, Singapore, Vietnam,

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and Taiwan. In addition to legal services, Duane Morris has independent affiliates employing approximately 100 professionals engaged in various other disciplines.

Ranking and recognition

U.S. News & World Report an
Best Lawyers
awarded Duane Morris top-tier national rankings in

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

and creditor debtor rights/

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet i ...

and reorganization law,

construction law Construction law is a branch of law that deals with matters relating to building construction, engineering, and related fields. It is in essence an amalgam of contract law, commercial law, planning law, employment law and tort. Construction law c ...

and litigation,

employee benefits Employee benefits and (especially in British English) benefits in kind (also called fringe benefits, perquisites, or perks) include various types of non-wage compensation provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries. Inst ...

(ERISA) law, health care law, immigration, insurance,

patent law A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

and

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

law. In total, 28 Duane Morris practice groups were nationally ranked. Duane Morris was also named Law Firm of the Year for Construction Law. Chambers USA 2017 edition ranked Duane Morris among the national leaders in Construction, Healthcare, Insurance, and Immigration. Attorneys received 70 citations for excellence, and 21 practices were cited for excellence. In 2014, the Am Law 100 ranked Duane Morris as the 71st largest law firm in the U.S. based on gross revenue. In 2007, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Duane Morris was named one of the Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers' "50 Best Law Firms for Women" and was cited for its Women's Initiative Program. Duane Morris was featured in the December/January issue of the magazine and on workingmother.com and flextime lawyers.com. In 2007, Duane Morris was named one of the 20 best companies for working women by ''

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

'' and one of the top 50 law firms for women by Working Mother magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC, a national consulting firm focused on the retention and advancement of women.

Growth

Under the ten-year leadership of Chair Sheldon Bonovitz from early 1998 to early 2008, Duane Morris grew from a little more than 200 lawyers in 1998 to more than 650 by January 2008. Revenues increased from $70 million to $375 million for 2007. Bonovitz stepped down at the beginning of January 2008, replaced by former Vice Chair John J. Soroko.

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

completed a case study of the firm's growth entitled "Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm," which was presented in the curriculum during the 2006–2007 academic year. In 2013, Duane Morris opened an office in Myanmar. Also in 2013, Duane Morris opened an office in

. , the firm had more than 750 attorneys across 27 offices. In January 2020, Duane Morris LLP announced that it had reached a merger agreement with Satterlee Stephens. The combination expands Duane Morris' presence in New York City.

Notable cases and deals

*Heineken's $4.6B bid for Asia Pacific Breweries: In November 2012,

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Febr ...

N.V. closed its S$5.6 billion ($4.6 billion) takeover bid for

Asia Pacific Breweries Heineken Asia Pacific, formerly Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) is a Singaporean brewery company. Founded in 1931 as a joint venture between Heineken International and Fraser and Neave, it was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) in 1989 and given i ...

Ltd. (APBL), acquiring an additional 40-percent stake in the joint venture from its partner

Fraser & Neave Fraser and Neave, Limited (F&N) is a Singaporean food and beverage, publishing and former brewing and property industries conglomerate. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business magnate Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi. Listed in Singapore, the ...

Ltd, a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

-based conglomerate. Duane Morris & Selvam, a joint law venture with Duane Morris, acted for Heineken in the transaction, which consolidated a controlling interest in APBL for the Amsterdam-based brewer of approximately 95 percent. The transaction marked one of the largest of its kind in

in 2012. The deal was named Singapore M&A Deal of the Year by the ALB SE Asia Law Awards 2013. * Lehigh Gas Partners IPO: Duane Morris completed a series of transactions in November 2012 that concluded with the $138 million initial public offering of wholesale motor fuel distributor Lehigh Gas Partners LP (NYSE: LGP). *

Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc. ''Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc.'', 517 U.S. 370 (1996), is a United States Supreme Court case on whether the interpretation of patent claims is a matter of law or a question of fact. An issue designated as a matter of law is resolved by t ...

: Duane Morris represented the plaintiff Markman in a

patent infringement Patent infringement is the commission of a prohibited act with respect to a patented invention without permission from the patent holder. Permission may typically be granted in the form of a license. The definition of patent infringement may v ...

lawsuit. After winning a jury verdict, Markman lost the case in a subsequent

directed verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales, ...

for the defendant Westview due to questions of patent claims construction. The decision to reverse the jury verdict was affirmed by the

Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (in case citations, Fed. Cir. or C.A.F.C.) is a United States court of appeals that has special appellate jurisdiction over certain types of specialized cases in the U.S. federal court ...

and, later in 1996, the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. The result of this case is that so-called

Markman hearing A ''Markman'' hearing is a pretrial hearing in a U.S. District Court during which a judge examines evidence from all parties on the appropriate meanings of relevant key words used in a patent claim, when patent infringement is alleged by a pl ...

s are now routinely conducted in patent infringement lawsuits so that a judge will rule on the legal meaning of patent claims before the lawsuit is argued before a jury. * Tobacco Industry Litigation: Along with the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

law firm of Buchanan Ingersoll, Duane Morris represented the

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryl ...

in a 46-state

class action lawsuit A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action ...

against the tobacco industry. The litigation concluded in 1998 with a landmark $206 billion global

settlement agreement In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...

for the 46 suing states.

Notable alumni

* Barbara Adams,

General Counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

of Pennsylvania, under Governor Rendell * Michael Baylson, Federal judge for the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Phila ...

Roland S. Morris Roland Sletor Morris (March 11, 1874 – November 23, 1945) was an American lawyer and diplomat. He was one of the founders of the Philadelphia-based law firm Duane Morris in 1904 and served as the United States Ambassador to Japan from 1917 to 19 ...

, former

United States Ambassador to Japan The is the ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. has maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period between the at ...

, one of the founding partners of the firm * Gene E. K. Pratter, federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania *

Marjorie Rendell Marjorie "Midge" Rendell ( ''née'' Osterlund; born February 13, 1947) is an American attorney and jurist serving as a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and a former First Lady of Penns ...

, Circuit judge in the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * Ea ...

Mark Singel Mark Stephen Singel (born September 12, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 27th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995, alongside Governor Bob Casey. Singel served as the state's acting governor from June 14, 1993 t ...

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of Pennsylvania from 1987 to 1995. Joined the firm in 2000 after leaving public service and left to start his own firm in 2005

References

External links