New York
WilmerHale’s New York office relocated to 7 World Trade Center (7 WTC) in July 2012. The offices include more technologically advanced and collaborative space, enabling the firm to further enhance its ability to provide clients with the highest quality services. The new offices are at the forefront of environmental sustainability initiatives and demonstrate the firm’s commitment to the revitalization of Lower Manhattan.
The firm’s move to 7 WTC made history as the first lease in the city to allow the tenant and the owner to benefit from energy efficient improvements while sharing in the costs to make the improvement attainable. The lease promotes enhanced energy efficiency and sustainability, and complements what the firm hopes will be a LEED Gold certification for its space—one of the few firms in the city to have that honor. WilmerHale is also the first major law firm to move from Midtown to Downtown since 9/11.
Having grown to nearly 200 lawyers since our New York practice opened in 1999, our New York office has developed a premier practice founded on many of the firm's core strengths. Across all practice areas, the New York office has been built on the firm's guiding principles of collegiality, diversity, commitment to public service, and dedication to our clients and the practice of law.
As an office integrated within a global firm of more than 1,000 lawyers, we benefit from the breadth of experience and expertise of our talented colleagues throughout the firm. We frequently work with lawyers from other offices to insure that our clients are able to draw seamlessly upon the resources and expertise of the entire firm.
The primary practice areas of the New York office include securities regulation and enforcement, intellectual property, patent and trademark litigation, trial and appellate litigation, white collar defense, corporate, bankruptcy and financial institutions. Our clients consist of a broad array of companies, including major financial, investment management and investment banking firms, pharmaceutical and life-sciences companies, venture-backed corporate start-ups and technology firms. Our work on behalf of these clients often involves novel and interesting issues of first impression, many of which raise important questions of public policy.
Consistent with our firm's rich tradition of public service, the office has developed a vibrant pro bono program. Lawyers within the office are encouraged to work on significant pro bono matters of interest to them and do so routinely. Recent examples of our pro bono work include two successful wrongful conviction cases, a successful 1983 action for wrongful arrest and imprisonment, several cases that were briefed or argued by the firm before the US Supreme Court, the successful defense at trial of a nonprofit social services organization, and a series of immigrant rights cases and a free speech case that have been argued by our associates before federal courts of appeals.
Our practice in the New York office is enriched by an unusually talented and interesting group of colleagues. Our lawyers include PhDs in English literature, electrical engineering, molecular biology, and organic chemistry. As is the case throughout the firm, many of our lawyers in the New York office had significant government, regulatory or public interest careers prior to joining the firm, and many of our colleagues had one or more federal court clerkships before entering private practice.
Our firm’s strong commitment to the training and development of our attorneys is evidenced in the exciting opportunities that our alumni have pursued when they left our firm, including several Assistant US Attorneys in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the General Counsel of the Dallas Cowboys, and tenure track positions at the University of Chicago, Cardozo Law School, the University of Michigan, and the University of South Carolina.
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