here . for the british publishing company see lawrence and wishart . latham & watkins type limited liability partnership industry legal services founded 1934 headquarters none . first office in los angeles california key people william voge chairman and managing partner products full legal services revenue us 2.6 billion 2014 1 number of employees approximately 2 200 attorneys 2 3 website www.lw.com latham & watkins llp founded in 1934 is the world s highest grossing law firm with us 2.6 billion in annual revenue and is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious and profitable law firms in the world . 4 5 latham currently employs approximately 2 200 attorneys in the united states europe the middle east and asia . 6 7 the firm was founded in los angeles and has extensive californian roots with latham s largest office now in new york city with nearly 400 lawyers . 8 the firm claims it is the only fully integrated multinational law firm with no one headquarters . 9 in 2007 latham & watkins became the first american law firm to attain more than 2 billion in yearly revenue and in 2015 the firm surpassed the likes of dla piper baker & mckenzie and skadden to become the highest grossing law firm in the world for the first time . 10 11 the firm has historically been one of the highest paying law firms in the world . 4 contents 1 history 2 political contributions 3 reputation and compensation 4 notable clients and cases 5 notable attorneys 6 offices & administration 7 notable alumni 8 references 9 external links history edit dana latham and paul watkins founded latham & watkins in january 1934 in los angeles california . latham s practice focused on us state and federal tax law and he eventually served as commissioner of the u.s. internal revenue service under president dwight eisenhower . watkins practise focused primarily on labor . although latham & watkins began with a focus on labor and tax law the firm has grown into an international full service law practice with highly regarded practices in transactional disputes and regulatory areas . 12 when latham & watkins was founded the firm consisted of three attorneys . the firm grew slowly and in 1960 there were 19 attorneys . the firm grew significantly in the 1960s increasing the attorney headcount to 46 in 1970 . 12 in the late 1960s and early 1970s latham & watkins utilized a system of internal committees to run the firm and allowed associates to participate in the majority of these committees . the associates committee was founded in 1971 and governs the career development of the firm s associates . the associates committee includes both associates and partners . through this committee latham & watkins includes associates in the promotion process . associates are also involved in the diversity committee recruiting committee pro bono committee and tace training and career enhancement committee . 12 jack walker became the firm s managing partner in 1988 and set out to grow the firm . latham & watkins expanded into san francisco london moscow hong kong and new jersey . robert dell took over as managing partner in 1994 . dell s tenure has been marked by the firm s international growth . 12 dell retired at the end of 2014 and was succeeded by william voge a long time project finance partner at the firm . political contributions edit according to the center for responsive politics latham & watkins was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle donating 1.24 million 71 % to democrats . 13 by comparison during that same period akin gump strauss hauer & feld donated 2.56 million 66 % to democrats 13 while oil conglomerate exxonmobil donated 2.66 million 88 % to republicans . 14 since 1990 latham & watkins contributed 6.31 million to federal campaigns . 15 reputation and compensation edit latham was ranked as the 1 firm in the am law 100 rankings for 2015 and received 31 top ten rankings across a range of corporate and finance categories in the american lawyer s 2015 rankings . 4 the results include four 1 rankings in the areas of high yield debt ipos and equity investments with strong results in other practices including m & a project finance bankruptcy and reits . 16 dubbed an a list all star by the american lawyer the firm is one of three firms to appear on the a list each year since its inception in 2003 . 17 the a list recognizes the most well rounded law firms based on financial performance and firm culture . latham garnered the most tier 1 rankings in the us market across its transactional disputes and regulatory practices in the legal 500 us 2014 . 17 the legal 500 us rankings are based on work achievements depth and experience of the practice and client and peer feedback . 16 vault.com named latham one of the top ten most prestigious firms in the united states . 18 latham is also recognized as one of the highest paying law firms in the world with profits per partner in the most recent year exceeding us 2.9 million . 19 first year associates are paid a salary of us 180 000 with additional merit based bonuses bringing total compensation to approximately 195 000 . summer associates are paid the same salary as first year associates although their compensation is prorated over ten weeks amounting to us 3 470 per week . 20 notable clients and cases edit represented lucasfilm in its sale to disney represented metro goldwyn mayer inc. in its 4.84 billion sale to the sony corporation in cooperation with providence equity partners texas pacific group dlj merchant banking partners and comcast corporation september 2004 . 21 advised bayer ag in its successful 2006 16.4 billion white knight takeover offer for schering ag pharmaceuticals . 22 legal counsel to bookrunners and arrangers deutsche bank securities inc goldman sachs international and merrill lynch international in 2 billion rule 144a regulation s notes offer for icici bank ltd through its bahrain branch october 2007 . this transaction was shortlisted for the asia law india award in the category capital markets . 23 represented the church of scientology in the reed slatkin ponzi scheme 24 and in 2008 letters signed by david j. schindler on latham & watkins stationery were hand delivered to anonymous protesters identified by scientology demanding cessation of unspecified illegal activities against the church . 25 26 represented eli lilly & co. in its 6.5 billion acquisition of imclone in october 2008 in which eli lilly prevailed in an abortive price war with bristol myers squibb a rival pharmaceutical company that had been seeking control of imclone a leader in the field of oncology medicine . 27 advised yahoo inc. in the definitive agreement to acquire arabic language online portal maktoob in august 2009 . financial terms were not disclosed 164 million . 28 donated 3.2 million in legal services to jay bybee a judge on the ninth circuit court of appeals during an investigation into allegations of professional misconduct resulting from bybee s work for the u.s. justice department under president george w. bush . 29 notable attorneys edit bruce babbitt former u.s. secretary of the interior under president bill clinton and former governor of arizona . sean berkowitz federal prosecutor in the trials of enron executives ken lay and jeffrey skilling . john kirby intellectual property attorney after whom nintendo may have named its kirby character after a series of high profile cases . gregory g. garre former solicitor general of the united states . maureen mahoney former deputy solicitor general in 1991 represented the university of michigan before the u.s. supreme court in grutter v. bollinger . philip perry was dept. of homeland security 30 general counsel now a partner in the litigation department and chair of the public policy practice group . he is married to elizabeth cheney attorney diplomat and daughter of former vice president dick cheney . abid riaz qureshi nominee to the united states district court for the district of columbia . offices & administration edit latham s first office was in los angeles . the new york office is currently the largest . latham is the only global law firm with no corporate headquarters and no latham office reports or is subordinate to another . only personnel designated as partners have ownership interest or control of the firm . those with the title of officer or director do not have authority to control the firm . 31 latham currently has over 2 200 attorneys located in 31 offices in 13 countries covering 9 other regions . 32 33 notable alumni edit bruce babbitt former governor of arizona and u.s. secretary of the interior michael chertoff former u.s. secretary of homeland security christopher cox former united states securities and exchange commission sec chair richard danzig former secretary of the navy and chair center for a new american security mark s. fowler former federal communications commission fcc chair fred t. goldberg jr. former partner and commissioner of internal revenue at the internal revenue service david j. hayes deputy secretary of the u.s. department of the interior carla anderson hills former u.s. trade representative and united states department of housing and urban development secretary roderick m. hills former sec chair reed hundt former fcc chair garth lagerwey general manager of major league soccer s seattle sounders fc . kathryn ruemmler white house counsel demaurice smith executive director of the nflpa arne sorenson ceo marriott international james j. white robert a. sullivan professor of law at the university of michigan law school and author of a treatise on the uniform commercial code with robert s. summers lance wickman general counsel for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints beth wilkinson prosecutor in the oklahoma city bombing case former general counsel of fannie mae . ivan gazidis ceo at arsenal fc . references edit the american lawyer firm profiles latham & watkins . americanlawyer.com 2012 01 01 . retrieved on 2013 12 23 . ilrg largest 250 law firms in the us . ilrg.com . retrieved on 2016 08 21 . administration . retrieved 2016 08 21 . a b c http abovethelaw.com 2015 04 the 2015 am law 100 revenues rising profits popping and a new 1 firm http app.ft.com cms s 6bc12a1c 137e 11e5 aa7f 00144feabdc0.html ilrg listing of the 250 largest law firms find our people . retrieved 2016 08 21 . https www.lw.com offices newyork lw.com 1 . ashby jones latham & watkins breaks 2 billion revenue barrier wall street journal february 11 2008 . jones ashby 27 april 2015 . latham & watkins tops the amlaw 100 for the first time . wsj law blog . retrieved 9 september 2015 . a b c d latham.com retrieved may 19 2010 . a b lawyers & lobbyists top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . energy natural resources top contributors to federal candidates parties and outside groups . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . organizations latham & watkins . opensecrets.org . center for responsive politics . retrieved 9 june 2016 . a b https www.lw.com awards legal 500 us 2014 a b http www.vault.com company profiles law latham watkins llp company overview.aspx vault.com vault law 100 . retrieved 2016 07 25 . the am law 100 growth slows at latham & watkins . retrieved 2016 07 25 . latham & watkins llp company profile vault.com . retrieved 2016 07 25 . 4.84 billion acquisition . international law office . september 13 2004 . retrieved october 18 2009 . rise of latham & watkins pdf . vol . 7 no. 1 . m & a journal . march 31 2007 . retrieved october