Profile

Latham & Watkins was established in the US in 1934, by Dana Latham and Paul Watkins, with a focus on tax and labour law. Dana Latham also served as the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under the administration of Dwight Eisenhower. The firm gradually diversified its practice to become a full-service, international law firm, which was voted as the ‘Law Firm of the Decade’ by Legal Business in 2007.

The first office was established in Los Angeles; thereafter offices in Orange County, Washington, San Diego, Chicago and New York followed. International expansion began in 1990 with the opening of an office in London, followed by offices in Brussels, Barcelona, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Rome, Madrid, Moscow, Munich, Paris and Milan.

The Asian market was covered with an office in Hong Kong in 1994, followed by offices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Singapore and in 2008 the firm opened two offices in the Middle East, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

At present, the final count stands at 30 offices with over 2,000 lawyers and a unique ‘one-firm’ culture which has no fixed headquarters with associate lawyers having a representation in the Executive Committee and taking a lead role in recruitment and training activities.