Ropes & Gray LLP #2 BEST to WORK for 2015
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Ropes & Gray LLP 723/$:),50+,*+/,*+76 #2 BEST TO WORK FOR FIRM INFO (In the Top 2 for Six Consecutive Years) CONTACT INFO www.ropesgray.com #1 Formal Training DIVERSITY #1 Informal Training #1 Overall Diversity WORLDWIDE LOCATIONS #3 Associate/Partner Relations #1 Diversity for Boston, MA • Chicago, IL • Hong Kong • #4 Firm Culture Individuals with London • New York, NY • San Francisco, CA • Seoul • Shanghai • Silicon Valley, #4 Pro Bono Disabilities CA • Tokyo • Washington, DC #4 Satisfaction #2 Diversity for LGBT #6 Career Outlook #2 Diversity for Veterans PRACTICE AREAS #8 Substantive Work #3 Diversity for Minorities Antitrust • Appellate Litigation • Bank- #10 Selectivity #5 Diversity for Women ruptcy & Business Restructuring • Bio- technology • Capital Markets • Colleges & Universities • Corporate • Debt Financing • Executive Compensation & Employee Ben- efits • Financial Services • Government Enforcement • Government Relations & Regulatory • Health Care • Hedge Funds • THE SCOOP Intellectual Property Rights Management • Intellectual Property Litigation • Intellectual A Boston institution since 1865, Ropes & Gray has expanded in every measurable way in the 21st Property Transactions • Investment Man- agement • Labor & Employment • Life Sci- century, acquiring smaller boutique firms in the States while claiming new turf in Asia and Europe. ences • Litigation • Mergers & Acquisitions Known for its corporate work, the firm has adapted to law’s accelerated globalization by bolstering • Privacy & Data Security • Private Client practice areas such as intellectual property, litigation, life sciences, and health care. Group • Private Equity • Private Investment Funds • Public Finance • Real Estate In- Mergers and global expansion have defined the firm’s recent years, including the historic 2005 vestments & Transactions • Securities & combination with New York-based IP specialist Fish & Neave. Since the merger, the firm has built Futures Enforcement • Securities Litigation out its IP practice beyond New York, with strong presences in key markets like Tokyo, Shanghai, • Social Media • Sports • Tax & Benefits • Technology, Media & Telecommunications Seoul, Silicon Valley, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC. THE STATS Continuing to expand the firm’s geographic reach, Ropes & Gray opened six offices between 2007 No. of Attorneys: 1,103 and 2013, in Chicago, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Seoul. The latter four served to No. of Offices: 11 expand the private equity practice considerably, accommodating the needs of clients increasingly Summer Associate Offers (2013): looking to invest in Asian markets. There was expansion on the home front as well, as the Boston 84 out of 84 office relocated to the top floors of Prudential Tower. Chairman: R. Bradford Malt Managing Partner: David C. Chapin Hiring Partner: Richard D. Batchelder, Jr. From Microchips to Private Equity In recent years, Ropes & Gray’s Intellectual Property Litigation group has tried cases ranging from touch-screens for video games to patents covering blood glucose meters, high-performance computer chips, and computer-driven annuities. The firm’s lawyers are involved in some of the major technology battles between industry giants, including representing Motorola Mobility in its patent dispute with Microsoft and representing Google in patent infringement suits over its Internet browser and street-level mapping technologies. The patent prosecution group wrote the hardware patents on Apple’s iPhone and continues its work on the cutting edges of interactive media, media devices, biotechnology and stem cell research. The firm’s IP practice has continually been recognized by leading publications for its achievements. The firm’s general litigation practice has also been on a roll, helping win a big jury trial for Goldman Sachs in 2013 in a case closely watched by the media, a seminal Supreme Court case for the mutual funds industry, and the successful resolution of several high-profile data breach cases. As Ropes’ IP practice booms, its private equity practice continues to push forward. Led by partner and firm chairman Brad Malt—who founded the firm’s private equity group—Ropes & Gray has built up a strong leveraged buyout practice, in addition to an impressive financial services and mutual fund practice. The firm is counsel for more than 1,000 mutual funds (or their directors). Ropes & Gray is also among the top firms in structuring IPOs, representing many of the leading underwriters. The firm’s private equity clients include many of the world’s largest private equity firms, including Audax Group, Bain Capital, Berkshire Partners, KarpReilly, HIG Capital, TPG Capital, Thomas H. Lee Partners, TSG Consumer Partners, Silver Lake Partners, and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. ® ([FHUSWHGIURPWKH9DXOW*XLGHWRWKH7RS/DZ)LUPV(GLWLRQ5HSULQWHGZLWKSHUPLVVLRQ&RS\ULJKW9DXOWFRP,QF3KRWRFRS\LQJLVLOOHJDODQGH[SUHVVO\IRUELGGHQ 523(6 *5$<//3 723/$:),50+,*+/,*+76 Pro Bono Pros In addition to the impressive variety of its practices, Ropes & Gray is devoted to carrying on its tradition of pro bono work and community service. Associates and partners work in a range of areas—including child abduction cases, housing and homelessness, voting rights, nonprofit incorporation, and asylum—and for a variety of organizations—such as Immigration Equality, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Accion, and Human Rights First. Associates tempted by a life of public service can take a break from the corporate grind with the District Attorney’s Office Assistant DA Program through which Ropes associates work as special assistant district attorneys for six months, or a six-month externship in the housing unit of a legal services agency. IN THE NEWS APRIL 2014 It’s All Greek to Me! A cross-practice team from Ropes & Gray advised TPG in its $750 million second lien debt investment in Chobani, the best-selling Greek yogurt brand in America. The investment injects Chobani with capital that will be used to further future growth and innovation at the company. In conjunction with the deal, TPG will have representation on Chobani’s board of directors. IMS and IPO Ropes & Gray advised IMS Health Holdings Inc. in its initial public offering and listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “IMS.” The IPO generated proceeds of $1.5 billion to IMS Health and the selling stockholders, including TPG Capital, CPP Investment Board and Leonard Green & Partners, making it the second-largest IPO of 2014. MARCH 2014 Safeguarding the Rights of Low-Income Individuals Living with HIV Working with Lambda Legal, a national organization committed to advancing LGBT rights, and New Orleans-based Phelps Dunbar, a Ropes & Gray pro bono team continued its successful efforts on behalf of low-income people living with HIV. A lawsuit against three Louisiana health insurers poised to refuse Ryan White premium assistance funds was among the first cases filed under the civil rights provisions of the Affordable Care Act. As a result of this litigation, individuals eligible for Ryan White premium assistance could enroll in the Louisiana health care exchange with the confidence that their coverage and care would not be interrupted. An International Reach Ropes & Gray represented the Blackstone-led buyer group consortium in the going-private transaction of China-based Pactera Technology International. The transaction was one of several private equity-sponsored take-privates of U.S.-listed Chinese firms on which the Ropes & Gray Hong Kong team has advised over the last year. JANUARY 2014 Class Dismissed A Ropes & Gray privacy and data security litigation team obtained the dismissal of 42 of 51 counts asserted against Sony in a multidistrict class-action litigation stemming from a 2011 criminal cyber-attack on Sony networks. The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California also limited the plaintiffs to the possibility of injunctive relief or individual relief on four of the remaining counts. GETTING HIRED Vault’s Verdict: “Smart, smart, smart” is, in the words of one associate, what Ropes & Gray is looking for. But as would be expected of a firm known for its focus on teamwork, arrogance isn’t welcomed here. Hiring Process • “Very competitive. Everyone here feels lucky they got in. The firm wants the best candidates from the best schools and gets so many applications that it can be fairly picky. It also wants people who will fit into the firm’s culture. The firm doesn’t want gunners or show offs, it’s a low key place where everyone is an equal.” ® ([FHUSWHGIURPWKH9DXOW*XLGHWRWKH7RS/DZ)LUPV(GLWLRQ5HSULQWHGZLWKSHUPLVVLRQ&RS\ULJKW9DXOWFRP,QF3KRWRFRS\LQJLVLOOHJDODQGH[SUHVVO\IRUELGGHQ 523(6 *5$<//3 723/$:),50+,*+/,*+76 • “The firm looks for smart but also nice people. Everyone has to pass the layover test—would I be happy sitting next to this person during an eight- hour layover?” • “The firm does value prestige. Many incoming associates are graduates of T-14 schools and have journal and/or clerkship experience. Grades are considered, but an individual’s ability to be proactive, think critically and be a team player are highly weighted. The firm values associates’ input on potential candidates.” OUR SURVEY SAYS Vault’s Verdict: Ropes associates can hardly find a negative word to utter about their employer, and with a culture committed to both professionalism and work/life balance, market-rate compensation, unbeatable training and substantive work from the first year, it’s not hard to see why. ASSOCIATE LIFE Satisfaction