Baker Botts L.L.P. is an American

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 ...

of around 725 lawyers. Headquartered in

One Shell Plaza One Shell Plaza (OSP) is a 50-story, skyscraper at 910 Louisiana Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. Perched atop the building is an antenna that brings the overall height of the building to . At its completion in 1971, the tower was the talles ...

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Houston, Texas, the firm has energy and technology related clients. It is referred to as the second-oldest law firm west of the Mississippi.Williams, Marjorie. "Jim Baker is smooth, shrewd, tough and coolly ambitious. That's why Washington loves him", ''The Washington Post'', January 29, 1989.

History

The firm was originally founded as Gray and Botts in 1865 by Peter W. Gray and Walter Browne Botts. In 1872, James Addison Baker joined the firm, and the name was changed to Gray, Botts & Baker. Gray left the partnership in 1874 to join the

Supreme Court of Texas The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of ...

, and the two remaining partners, Walter Browne Botts and Judge Baker, renamed the firm to Baker & Botts. Judge Baker's son, Captain Baker, joined the firm as a clerk in 1877, a lawyer in 1881, and became a partner in 1887, at which time the name became Baker, Botts and Baker. In 1896, Captain Baker, personal attorney for Texas millionaire William Marsh Rice, drew up a new will for Rice and was the will's executor. In 1900, Rice was poisoned in his bed by his valet, Charles F. Jones, and his New York City lawyer, Albert T. Patrick. Captain Baker was a key witness and helped investigate the murder after Patrick produced a will that gave him control of five million dollars in 1904. Baker got the will as evidence in the case, and it was subsequently proved that Patrick had forged Rice's signature on the will he submitted. The case was not settled until 1910, and by that time the estate had grown to almost $10 million. When the intent of Rice's will was finally executed, it led to the establishment of the William Marsh Rice Institute for the Advancement of Literature, Art, and Science, which is now called

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universit ...

. Captain Baker's son also joined the firm in 1919, and his classmate and friend, Henry Malcolm Lovett joined in 1924. Walter H. Walne served as managing partner from 1926 to 1933. James Addison Baker, III, former Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's ...

(a.k.a. James Baker), joined the firm as a senior partner in 1993 after leaving public service. He maintained two offices in Washington, being also affiliated as a partner at the

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and p ...

. In 2000, the firm renamed itself Baker Botts. In 2019, John W. Martin was elected managing partner of the firm. Based in the Palo Alto office, Martin became Baker Botts’ first managing partner based outside of Texas. Baker Botts is active in community service and pro bono efforts. The firm provided legal support for victims of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and responded to the COVID crisis with the publication of a COVID-19 Community Resource Guide. Dutch quality newspaper NRC investigated Baker Botts representation of

Rosneft PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petrol ...

in a Dutch court case dealing with the Russian state's appropriation of

Yukos OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС, links=no, ) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovs ...

. The two oil giants were embroiled in a bitter feud between

Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has Russia under Vladimir Putin, served continuously as president or Prime Minis ...

and an opponent of his, Khodorkovsy, the controlling shareholder of Yukos. Khodorkovsky was subsequently jailed, and Rosneft picked up the pieces of Yukos' bankruptcy. Journalist Joep Dohmen of NRC wrote that Baker Botts helped its client Rosneft forge Armenian court rulings to shore up Rosneft's claims in Dutch courts. NRC, claiming possession of the actual court papers, found that Baker Botts partner Ryan Bull and his Moscow associate Izabella Sarkisyan were co-authors of the verdict in Case 1494, which, according to NRC, was handed to Armenian judge Dremeyan on a USB drive. According to NRC, the text included the Armenian coat of arms. The NRC article has been translated into English. The article stated that Rosneft and Baker Botts denied NRC's allegations. The article also stated that Yukos settled out of court after the Dutch court admitted the proofs of these actions.

Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin

Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin (formerly Miller, Cassidy & Evans) was a Washington, D.C.-based boutique law firm law firm specializing in litigation, particularly

criminal defense In the field of criminal law, there are a variety of conditions that will tend to negate elements of a crime (particularly the ''intent'' element), known as defenses. The label may be apt in jurisdictions where the ''accused'' may be assigned some ...

. Among its founding partners and namesakes were former

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

officials Herbert J. "Jack" Miller, who led the Criminal Division under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and John Cassidy. The firm's prominent clients included President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

, Senator

Edward M. Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...

White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House deputy chief of staff is officially the top aide to the White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the West Wing and is responsible ...

Michael Deaver,

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

, and the

American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an Television in the United States, American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the Disney General Entertainment Content#Current assets, ...

(ABC) in its litigation with Food Lion grocery stores. The firm merged into Baker Botts in 2001.

Notable partners and employees

* Claude Allen, 1991–1995; advisor to President George W. Bush * Judge James A. Baker, partner, father of Captain James A. Baker *

Captain James A. Baker James Addison Baker (January 10, 1857August 2, 1941) was an American attorney and banker in Houston, Texas. He was born James Addison Baker, Junior, and "Junior" appeared in his signature for many years. After the death of his father in 1897 ...

, joined 1881, partner 1887, grandfather of James Addison Baker, III *

James A. Baker III James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President ...

, partner, 1993–present; grandson of Captain James A. Baker; served as White House Chief of Staff,

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, United States Supreme Court Justice * Christopher "Casey" Reid Cooper, United States district court judgeChristopher R. Cooper Final Senate Questionnaire
Senate Judiciary Committee (January 6, 2014. * Richard C. Breeden, former employee, activist hedge fund manager and former SEC Chairman * George W. Bush, former mail room employee; President of the United States, 2001-2009 * Jean Dalby Clift, former employee, 1952–1957 * Wallace Clift, former employee, 1953–1957 *

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

, former employee, 1995; United States Senator, 2013–present * Dillon Anderson National Security Advisor, 1955-1956 * Jennifer Walker Elrod, former employee, 1994–2002; judge,

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (in case citations, 5th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * Eastern District of Louisiana * M ...

* Peter W. Gray, founder, partner, 1840–1874 *

Joe R. Greenhill Joe Robert Greenhill (July 14, 1914 – February 11, 2011) was an American attorney. He served on the Texas Supreme Court for 25 years, 10 of those as chief justice. Biography Born in Houston, Texas, Greenhill attended the University of Tex ...

, former employee, of counsel; Chief Justice of the

, 1972–1982 *

James Wesley Hendrix James Wesley Hendrix (born 1977) is a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas and former assistant United States attorney for the same district. He preside ...

, United States district court judge *

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

, partner; United States Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, 2002-2003 * Rebeca Huddle, former partner; Justice of the

, 2020–present *

Matthew J. Kacsmaryk Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk (; born 1977) is a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. He was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump in 2017 and sworn in for the position in 2019. C ...

, United States district court judge * Robert Keeton, former employee; judge and law professor * Jerome H. Kern, former senior partner, founding partner of

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is an American law firm in New York City. The firm is known for corporate law, regularly handling large and complex transactions. On both a profit per lawyer, and profit per equity partner basis, it is the most pr ...

, former CEO of Linkshare,

Playboy Enterprises PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focus ...

, and Colorado Symphony *

Stuart A. Levey Stuart A. Levey was the first Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence within the United States Department of the Treasury. He was sworn in on July 21, 2004 as a political appointee of President George W. Bush. President Barack Oba ...

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within the

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Thomas R. Phillips Thomas Royal Phillips (born October 23, 1949) is an attorney with the Baker Botts firm in Austin, Texas, who was from 1988 to 2004 the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas. With nearly seventeen years of service, Phillips is the third-lo ...

, current partner, retired Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court 1988–2004 * Maureen Ohlhausen, current partner, former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission 2012-2018

Miller Cassidy

Notable attorneys who worked at Miller Cassidy before its merger with Baker Botts included: *

Jamie Gorelick Jamie S. Gorelick (; born May 6, 1950) is an American lawyer who served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States from 1994 to 1997, during the Clinton administration. She has been a partner at WilmerHale since 2003 and has served on t ...

, Deputy Attorney General of the United States (1994–1997) *

Ketanji Brown Jackson Ketanji Onyika Brown Jackson ( ; born September 14, 1970) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jackson was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Joe Biden on February 25, 20 ...

, Associate Justice,

Supreme Court of the United States 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 ...

(2022-present); judge,

United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (in case citations, D.C. Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. It has the smallest geographical jurisdiction of any of the U.S. federal appellate cou ...

* Seth P. Waxman,

Solicitor General of the United States The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represen ...

(1997–2001)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Law firms established in 1840 Law firms based in Houston Foreign law firms with offices in Hong Kong 1840 establishments in the Republic of Texas