Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP

ABOUT THIS COMPANY:

If anything can be said of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, the firm has chosen a really cute mascot. Winston the bulldog adorns the Womble's site, and, according to the firm, has "a fan club of human admirers who request his photo and fellow bulldogs who just want to make friends." Winston, introduced as part of a 1996 branding campaign, also indicates Womble's ambitions to keep its status as one of the premier law firms based in the Southeast. Founded in 1886, Womble Carlyle has grown to 530 lawyers practicing in eleven offices. The firm particularly touts its expertise in work related to the following industries: financial services, commercial real estate, information technology, health care, manufacturing, telecommunications, educational institutions, and governmental bodies and agencies.

Womble technology for everybody

Along with other firms such as DC's Howrey & Simon and Detroit's Dickinson Wright, Womble has caught attention for technology capabilities. Since 1997, the firm's ClientPlus service has evolved into a moneymaker for the firm, with a staff of over 35 programmers, document specialists, trainers, project managers, scanners, and systems engineers.

Womble the administrator

Based in a tobacco growing state, Womble hasn't missed out on the tobacco litigation action. In August 1999, Governor Jim Hunt of North Carolina announced that the firm would administer $2 billion to North Carolina tobacco farmers as part of the $246 billion settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies in 1998. The governor also indicated that Womble would be compensated $3 million a year for the job, which involves identifying and locating 100,000 tobacco farmers entitled to payment.