Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as WilmerHale, is an American multinational law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Co-headquartered in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, it was formed in 2004 through the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

of the Boston-based firm Hale and Dorr and the D.C.-based firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering. It employs more than 1,000 attorneys worldwide.

History

Hale and Dorr, 1918–2004

Hale and Dorr was founded in Boston in 1918 by Richard Hale, Dudley Huntington Dorr, Frank Grinnell, Roger Swaim, and John Maguire. On January 1, 1919, the partnership was reconstituted to admit George W. Wightman and

Reginald Heber Smith Reginald Heber Smith (21 December 1889-23 October 1966), also known as Reg Smith, was an American lawyer. His book Justice and the Poor inspired the creation of legal aid programmes throughout the United States. He was awarded the American Bar Asso ...

. Smith, author of the seminal work Justice and the Poor and a pioneer in the American

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right ...

movement, joined the firm in 1919 and served as managing partner for thirty years. Hale and Dorr gained national recognition in 1954 when partner Joseph Welch, assisted by associate James St. Clair and John Kimball Jr., represented the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

on a

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

basis during the historic Army-McCarthy hearings. In 1974,

James D. St. Clair James Draper St. Clair (April 14, 1920 – March 10, 2001) was an American lawyer, who practiced law for many years in Boston with the firm of Hale & Dorr. He was the chief legal counsel for President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. E ...

represented President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

before the

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 Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

in '' United States v. Nixon''. In 1988, partner Paul Brountas chaired the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Governor

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis ( ; born November 3, 1933) is an American politician and lawyer who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history and only the s ...

, and in 1990, senior partner

William Weld William is a masculine given name of Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is ...

was elected governor. The firm has had a long relationship with nearby

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, home of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center. In 1988, the law firm established a subsidiary as a registered investment adviser. Initially known as ''Haldor Investment Advisors, L.P.'', and then ''Hale Dorr Wealth Advisers''. In 2008 ''Hale Dorr Wealth Advisors'' became ''Silver Bridge''.

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, 1962–2004

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering was founded in Washington in 1962 by former Cravath attorneys

Lloyd Cutler Lloyd Norton Cutler (November 10, 1917 – May 8, 2005) was an American attorney who served as White House Counsel during the Democratic administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Early life and education Cutler was born ...

and John Pickering, along with a senior lawyer, Richard H. Wilmer. Cutler, who later served as

White House Counsel The White House Counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Off ...

to Presidents

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

, founded the

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, or simply the Lawyers' Committee, is an American civil rights organization founded in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy. When the Lawyers' Committee was created, its existence w ...

in 1962 and served on its executive committee until 1987. In the 1980s, Cutler led the founding of the Southern Africa Legal Services and Legal Education Project, to aid South African lawyers who fought to implement the rule of law during

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. From 1981 to 1993, partner C. Boyden Gray, a prominent member of The Federalist Society, left the firm to serve as White House Counsel to Vice President and President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. In 2003, partner

Jamie Gorelick Jamie Shona 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 serve ...

began serving as a member of the

9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, commonly known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, to investigate all aspects of the September 11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attack in world history ...

Combined firm, Since 2004

The two firms merged to form Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in 2004, with headquarters now in both Boston and Washington. In 2010, the law firm relocated its administrative support base to a new campus in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

as it sought to streamline internal business operations across its many offices. The office houses more than 200 employees from existing WilmerHale offices and new employees from the Dayton area. Individuals in the Business Services Center include administrative support staff, bringing together services such as finance, human resources, information technology services, operations, document review and management, and practice management, which will provide improved efficiencies for administrative teams and the firm, and reduce significant operational expenses. In June 2023, the firm announced that former federal prosecutor Anjan Sahni would replace the co-managing partners Robert Novick and Susan Murley at the beginning of next year.

Targeting by the second Trump administration

On March 27, 2025, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

signed an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

taking action against the firm over its ties to

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...

, former special counsel, who led a probe into Trump's 2016 campaign and its alleged ties with Russian state officials. The executive order directs federal agencies to end contracts with WilmerHale's clients, revokes their lawyers' security clearances and restricts their access to certain government buildings. The following day a lawsuit was filed by

Paul Clement Paul Drew Clement (born June 24, 1966) is an American attorney who served as United States Solicitor General, U.S. Solicitor General from 2005 to 2008 and is known for his advocacy before the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Cou ...

of Clement & Murphy seeking to bar the executive order. Later that day, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon issued a temporary restraining order blocking a portion of the order, but did not block the provision ending WilmerHale’s lawyers' security clearances. On May 27, 2025, Judge Leon struck down the executive order, calling the order “unconstitutional.”

Reputation

According to one study examining political donations by large white shoe firms, WilmerHale was ranked as the most liberal out of the top twenty prestigious law firms in the nation. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' ranked WilmerHale as the No. 1 Top Workplace in DC in 2019, and the firm has earned a Top Workplace for eight consecutive years, and noted that the firm "has played a leading role in reimagining what 'Big Law' can be." ''

The American Lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.The American Lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.

Clients

''A Civil Action''

In the late 1980s, Hale and Dorr partner Jerome Facher represented

Beatrice Foods Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food conglomerate founded in 1894. One of the best-known food processing companies in the U.S., Beatrice owned many well-known brands such as Tropicana, Krispy Kreme, Jolly Rancher, Orville Reden ...

in a suit by eight families from Woburn,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

who claimed that Beatrice, along with W.R. Grace, had polluted the town's water supply, resulting in an elevated number of leukemia cases and immune-system disorders. The case was memorialized in the book ''

A Civil Action ''A Civil Action'' is a 1995 non-fiction book by Jonathan Harr about a water contamination case in Woburn, Massachusetts, in the 1980s. The book became a best-seller. It won the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction. It is based ...

'', by

Jonathan Harr Jonathan Harr is an American writer, best known for the nonfiction work'' A Civil Action''. Early life and education Jonathan Ensor Harr was born 13 September 1948, in Beloit, Wisconsin, the son of John Ensor Harr (1 August 1926–14 November 200 ...

, and in a movie of the same name starring

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

as Facher and

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

as plaintiffs' lawyer Jan Schlichtmann. Upon further discovery, the EPA took the case on and W.R. Grace was successfully indicted for making false statements. Both W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods paid a total $64.9 million to clean up the contaminated sites in Woburn.

Enron and WorldCom reports

In the wake of news articles raising concerns about transactions between

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

and its CFO,

Andy Fastow Andrew Stuart Fastow (born December 22, 1961) is an American convicted felon and former financier who was the chief financial officer of Enron Corporation, an energy trading company based in Houston, Texas, until he was fired shortly before the ...

, lawyers from Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering represented a special investigative committee of Enron's board of directors in an internal investigation into those transactions. The resulting report, known as the " Powers Report," laid out the facts that have been the predicate for much of the public discussion of Enron since that time. Similarly, after

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

's announcement that it would have to restate financial statements, the firm represented a special investigative committee of WorldCom's board of directors in performing an internal investigation into the accounting irregularities. The investigation resulted in a widely covered written report that detailed a variety of accounting issues as well as the role of management and the board of directors.

''Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. et al''

WilmerHale counseled

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...

in its hotly contested smartphone patent dispute with Samsung Electronics Co. The two parties reached a settlement in 2018 after a seven-year-long battle that began when Apple accused

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

of infringing numerous design and utility patents related to the iPhone.

PerkinElmer's acquisition of BioLegend

In 2021, WilmerHale represented

PerkinElmer PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation that was founded in 1937 and originally focused on precision optics. Over the years it went into and out of several different businesses via acquisitions and di ...

in its acquisition of life sciences company

BioLegend BioLegend is a global developer and manufacturer of antibodies and reagents used in biomedical research located in San Diego, California. It was incorporated in June 2002 and has since expanded to include BioLegend Japan KK, where it is partnered ...

for $5.25 billion, the largest acquisition to date for PerkinElmer. President and CEO of PerkinElmer Prahlad Singh said the deal will "push science and discovery forward."

Other notable and controversial clients

In 1986, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering represented corporate raider Ivan Boesky in high-profile

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and SEC proceedings, as well as multiple class actions based on his participation in insider trading violations. Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering represented Swiss banks accused of profiting from the Holocaust in their settlement negotiations with plaintiffs. The firm also represented

Siemens AG Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the posit ...

, Krupp AG, and other German companies accused of exploiting forced laborers during the Nazi era. Since 2005, WilmerHale has represented Senator William Frist in regard to an SEC

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

investigation. WilmerHale was hired to represent

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

in the SEC investigation related to the departure of PepsiCo general counsel Maura Smith. In the course of this representation, a WilmerHale attorney inadvertently e-mailed a confidential legal memorandum to a ''Wall Street Journal'' reporter as part of an internal communication to other attorneys working on the matter, which made several details of the investigation public. In early December 2022 Caroline Ellison, former CEO of

Alameda Research Alameda Research was a cryptocurrency trading firm, co-founded in September 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara MacAulay. In November 2022, FTX, Alameda's sister cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a solvency crisis, and both FTX and Alameda ...

, hired Stephanie Avakian as her lead attorney.

''Pro bono''

Both Hale and Dorr and Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering have a long history of involvement in ''

'' work. WilmerHale lawyers dedicated pro bono hours to addressing issues of systemic racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Attorneys at the firm also challenged the legality of Georgia's voting maps, claiming that the revised maps diluted Black voting strength.

Guantanamo controversy

A team of WilmerHale attorneys represents the " Algerian Six", a group of men who fell under suspicion of planning to attack the US embassy in

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and who are now held in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp. In 2006, attorney Melissa Hoffer, then part of the team with WilmerHale, delivered a speech in

Caen Caen (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune inland from the northwestern coast of France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Calvados (department), Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inha ...

, France, critical of U.S. detainee policy. Other WilmerHale lawyers participating in the case include Stephen Oleskey and Rob Kirsch. In January 2007, Cully Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, criticized WilmerHale and other major law firms for representing ''"the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001,"'' and questioned whether such work was really being done

or might actually receive funding from shadowy sources."Bush Lawyer Blasts Law Firms For Representing Detainees"
post by Peter Lattman on Law Blog '' all Street Journal' on the cases, trends and personalities of interest to the business community, January 12, 2007 In a ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' editorial criticizing Stimson, Harvard Law School professor (and former

United States Solicitor General The solicitor general of the United States (USSG or SG), is the fourth-highest-ranking official within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and represents the federal government in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. ...

under President Reagan)

Charles Fried Charles Anthony Fried (born Karel Fried; April 15, 1935 – January 23, 2024) was an American jurist and lawyer. He served as Solicitor General of the United States under President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989. He was a professor at Harvard L ...

wrote: In December 2007, Seth Waxman made the oral argument to the Supreme Court in '' Boumediene v. Bush'' which upheld habeas corpus rights for detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

Notable alumni

Charlene Barshefsky Charlene Barshefsky (born August 11, 1950) is an American lawyer. She served as United States Trade Representative from 1997 to 2001. She was the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative from 1993 to 1997. She is a partner at the law firm of Wilmer Cutl ...

, retired partner; former

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Foreign trade of the United States, United States ...

Maura Healey Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she served as Massachusetts Attorney Ge ...

, former partner, former

Attorney General of Massachusetts The Massachusetts attorney general is an elected Constitution of Massachusetts, constitutionally defined executive officer of the Massachusetts government. The officeholder is the chief lawyer and law enforcement officer of the Massachusetts, Com ...

and current

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The governor is the chief executive, head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonw ...

Alejandro Mayorkas Alejandro Nicolas Mayorkas (born November 24, 1959) is an American attorney and government official who was the seventh United States secretary of homeland security, serving from 2021 until 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, Mayorkas previ ...

, retired partner, former

United States Secretary of Homeland Security The United States secretary of homeland security is the head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, the federal department tasked with ensuring public safety in the United States. The secretary is a member of the Cabinet of the ...

, retired partner; former

FBI director The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a United States federal law enforcement agency, and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI director is appointed for a ...

and special counsel to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election *

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as United States ambassador to Mexico from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administ ...

, retired partner; former Secretary of the Interior, current U.S. Ambassador to Mexico * Ion Hazzikostas, currently Game Director of

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

, was an associate in the Litigation Department.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

Wilmer HaleWilmer Hale History

Long, Long Law Firm Names Grow Short and Snappy
, from ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''
WilmerHale: A Merger's Tale
, from ''Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly'' Intellectual property law firms Biopharmaceutical law firms Law firms established in 2004 Law firms based in Washington, D.C. Law firms based in Boston 2004 establishments in the United States