Highlights Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
Dynamic Practice, Compelling Work
Fried Frank associates play an essential role in the Firm’s delivery of top-notch legal services to its clientbase, which comprises the world’s largest investment banks and financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies and other multinational industry leaders. Working at a global law firm with offices in the world’s principal financial centers across three continents, associates at Fried Frank are continually involved in complex, high-profile matters involving the sophisticated cross-border work for which the Firm is well known. As vital members of the firm, Fried Frank associates are given a high level of responsibility and immersed in significant matters from their first day, with ample opportunity to interact with clients and work closely with partners.
Our attorneys strive for excellence. Chambers USA named 57 Fried Frank partners and 25 practice areas to its 2012 ranking of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; Legal 500 2012 recognized 78 partners and 24 practice areas; and the Firm is consistently ranked in the Vault Law 100.
Our corporate attorneys are among the most renowned practicing today, and the deals we handle frequently create the precedents that others follow. In the past five years alone, we have handled more than 500 M&A deals (collectively worth more than US$1.5 trillion) and more than 300 public and private debt and equity offerings worldwide (with an aggregate value of more than US$150 billion). In May 2012, Fried Frank was again named one of the top 25 corporate law firms in the United States according to a survey released by Corporate Board Member magazine.
Our litigators are some of the best in the field, and their expertise in general commercial litigation, enforcement and investigations, securities shareholder litigation, intellectual property, white-collar defense and corporate governance is widely recognized. The Firm’s award-winning real estate practice is unmatched in reputation and skill, and its lawyers consistently handle market-leading deals shaping the landscape of New York and Washington, DC real estate. Fried Frank is also highly regarded for its work on critical matters involving antitrust and competition, asset management, bankruptcy and restructuring, executive compensation and employee benefits, insurance, international trade and investment, and tax, among other areas of law.
Some of the Firm’s recent headline-grabbing work includes Virgin Media Inc.’s agreement to be acquired by Liberty Global, Inc. for US$23.3 billion, a deal that will create the world’s leading broadband communications company; a securities litigation victory for Wells Fargo/Wachovia, described by The American Lawyer as "the largest subprime securities case to date" and neutralizing US$109 billion of exposure; the restructuring of Comercial Mexicana, Mexico's third largest supermarket retailer (which received the 2011 IFLR Americas "Restructuring Deal of the Year" award); successful representation of a major commercial airline in a multidistrict litigation involving price-fixing allegations (one of the largest worldwide antitrust cases); a private equity consortium’s US$3.66 billion offer for Focus Media, a transaction that would be China’s largest leveraged buyout in history; and Cargill’s split-off and disposition of its 64% stake in The Mosaic Company, an innovative transaction valued at more than US$24 billion.
Click here to review sampling of Fried Frank's recent major matters
Click here to view some of our recent rankings and accolades
Reigning Over Real Estate
Fried Frank’s real estate practice is consistently at the forefront of the largest and most complicated transactions and is unrivaled in both the scope of its work and the talent of its attorneys. Our real estate practice ranks number one in Vault, Chambers USA and Legal 500 US and received the Chambers USA Award for Excellence, and our real estate attorneys consistently rank at the top of their field.
Associates specializing in real estate law learn from the best in the industry, working on complex matters involving acquisition and disposition of single assets and portfolios, distressed real estate and workouts, mortgage and mezzanine financing and restructuring, development and construction, leasing, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts and real estate litigation.
Among the noteworthy transactions recently handled by the Fried Frank real estate team are Cornell University’s development of a US$2 billion Science and Technology Campus on Roosevelt Island; Google Inc.'s purchase of 111 Eighth Avenue, the largest commercial real estate purchase by a tenant in US history; Forest City Ratner's development of the US$4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn; and Related Companies' US$15 billion deal with the Metropolitan Transit Authority to develop the West Side Yards, the largest undeveloped single piece of property in Manhattan.
Giving Back
Fried Frank has long held a commitment to pro bono work and a strong sense of philanthropic responsibility. Our attorneys work with a variety of pro bono clients including veterans, non-citizens seeking asylum, microentrepreneurs, victims of domestic violence, artists seeking representation on intellectual property matters, indigent individuals accused of crimes and charter schools.
Fried Frank is widely acknowledged by both the legal and nonprofit communities for its pro bono efforts. The Firm received the Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award in both 2012 and 2011 as well as an award in 2011 from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee in recognition of its pro bono work on behalf of the Equal Rights Center in Fair Housing Act litigation. The Firm was also the recipient of the 2010 Commitment to Justice Law Firm Award given by inMotion, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free legal services to low-income and under-served women in New York City, and the 2010 Impact Award from the Girl Scout Council of Greater New York. Longtime Fried Frank attorney Robert Juceam was honored by The American Lawyer in 2010 as a Lifetime Achiever for his "extraordinary commitment to meet the legal needs of the less fortunate in dire circumstances." Mr. Juceam and litigation special counsel Karen Grisez each received a Courageous Luminary Award for Legal Service in December 2011 in recognition of their groundbreaking work on immigration law issues.
In February 2013, Washington, DC corporate associate Shanna Cohn was featured in the DC Bar’s “Voices” blog for her work as a long-time volunteer team leader with the Bar’s Pro Se Plus Divorce Clinic. Please click the link here to read the Q&A.
Fellowship/Externship Opportunities
As part of our commitment to public service, Fried Frank partnered with the Legal Aid Society in 2002 to launch the Pro Bono Externship Program. Through this program, Fried Frank places associate externs with the Legal Aid Society for four-month periods. The associates work on the Legal Aid Society’s Community Development Project (CDP), which serves low-income businesses and microentrepreneurs. These externships allow midlevel associates from our benefits, corporate, IP, real estate and tax departments to assist small businesses and nonprofits while gaining valuable experience.
Fried Frank also offers two unique fellowship opportunities for select junior-level attorneys. Fellows spend two years working in Fried Frank’s litigation department followed by two years with either the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. (LDF) or the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Many of our fellows choose to return to Fried Frank after their fellowships, and several of our prior fellows can be found in high-level positions at LDF and MALDEF.
Associates in the Firm’s Washington, DC office have the opportunity to participate in a four- to six- month externship as staff attorneys with The Constitution Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes and defends constitutional safeguards. Since 1997, the Project has assembled bipartisan coalitions of respected leaders who create consensus recommendations for policy reforms on issues relating to the rule of law and the criminal justice system. Externship participants have the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including legal and policy-based research, advocacy, and amicus brief-writing, each involving some of the most cutting-edge legal and political questions before our courts and policymakers today.
Secondments
Fried Frank regularly makes secondment arrangements with clients whereby associates are assigned to work in-house with a Firm client for a fixed period of time, usually 6 to 12 months. This arrangement offers lawyers an extraordinary platform through which they can improve their legal skills, enhance their relationships with clients and gain a new perspective on legal practice. Fried Frank associates have been seconded to a variety of institutions ranging from premier investment banks to Fortune 100 companies.
Attorney Development
Fried Frank firmly believes that the individual success of our attorneys is directly correlated to the overall success of the Firm. To advance this effort, the Firm maintains an administrative department dedicated to assisting and promoting our attorneys’ continued professional development through substantive training programs, maintenance of a comprehensive evaluation system, and general day-to-day legal practice support.
The Attorney Development department develops, implements and monitors the professional training programs and continuing legal education needs of the Firm’s attorneys. Training at Fried Frank consists of both Firmwide cross-departmental training programs focused on improving our attorneys’ general professional skills and department-specific training programs focusing on individual practice needs. We offer 250 internal and external training programs each year.
Mentoring
Our accomplishments as Fried Frank lawyers are a reflection of the Firm’s collegiality, as demonstrated in the many informal ways we individually support one another, and are achieved through our interdependent relationships as colleagues.
The Professional Development and Mentoring Subcommittee of the Firm’s Diversity Committee has designed the Fried Frank Partner Advisor Program to provide an additional, formal mentoring structure whereby partners can further provide the support and guidance associates need to maximize their potential. Participation in the Partner Advisor Program is open to all associates at the Firm, although some elements of the program in certain practice groups may only apply to associates of specific class years. The Firm also offers an Associate Advisor Program designed to personalize the Fried Frank experience for new associates and provide continuing support.
Associate Life
Each Fried Frank office has a dedicated Associates Committee committed to enhancing associate life at the Firm. Associate Committee meetings are generally open to all associates and provide an opportunity for the leadership of the Firm to seek input from associates on key issues ranging from Firm events and initiatives to work environment and transparency.
Fried Frank offers a variety of activities and programs to associates – many of which have been initiated by Fried Frank lawyers themselves. A sampling of activities includes: Fried Frank “Fit Club,” sports teams (softball, basketball, football, tennis), book club, a monthly “Jeans for Charity” fundraiser and yearly participation in the JPMorgan Corporate Challenge, Lawyers Have Heart and AIDS Walk.
A Firm of Inclusion
With an independent department dedicated exclusively to Firm diversity initiatives, Fried Frank is committed to ensuring Fried Frank is a place of inclusion where all attorneys can thrive and reach their full potential. Our Director of Diversity and Inclusion leads our efforts to recommend strategies to prevent discrimination and other barriers to meaningful inclusion and integration of all attorneys and staff. She meets regularly with diverse attorneys to discuss career development strategies, and oversees and assesses the effectiveness of all Firm mentoring programs, diligently seeking to be aware of and address issues of concern to individual attorneys.
Fried Frank’s Diversity Committee provides a forum for identifying, discussing and prioritizing diversity issues, as well as for developing and supporting related proposals and initiatives. Several subcommittees execute the work of our Diversity Committee to promote inclusion within the Firm, and focus on the areas of:
- Recruiting and our Fellowship Program with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
- Business Development and Marketing
- Professional Development and Mentoring
- Work/Life Balance
Diversity is a standard principle at Fried Frank. Support comes from the top—minorities and women are valuable leaders and decision-makers at the Firm. We support initiatives and affinity groups focused on attorneys of color, women attorneys and LGBT attorneys, including the Attorney of Color Affinity Group, the LGBT Affinity Group and the Women’s Forum. Fried Frank’s Washington, DC and New York offices also participate in the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) career program, which places diverse students in law firms for summer internships prior to the students’ first year of law school. Many return to the Firm as associates. Our New York office also participates in the New York City Bar Association Diversity Fellowship Program, which places first-year law students from groups historically underrepresented in the legal profession in first-year summer associate positions with participating law firms and corporations.
We are proud of the public recognition of our inclusive culture. Fried Frank has been recognized for five consecutive years by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, achieving a top rating of 100 percent in reflection of our policies and practices protecting LGBT employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression, diversity training, and health care and domestic partnership benefits. The Firm has also been recognized by Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers LLC in five consecutive administrations of their Best Law Firms for Women list.
Our diversity efforts extend beyond the Firm to the pipeline necessary to foster meaningful diversity in the legal profession. Through the Fried Frank Pre-Law Scholars Program, we partner with Hunter College to prepare pre-law focused college students of diverse backgrounds for the LSAT and a successful legal education. We also work with Just the Beginning Foundation to expose DC-area middle and high school students to the legal profession.
