Chadbourne Parke: An Overview of This Established Law Firm and its History

Summary

Chadbourne & Parke is an internationally renowned law firm with more than 250 attorneys spanning across offices in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Houston, Beijing, Dubai, London, Moscow and other cities around the world. Founded in 1933, the firm provides a range of legal services, from complex business transactions and litigation to counseling and representation in international disputes, across a variety of industries including energy, telecommunications, entertainment, real estate, finance, health care, insurance and technology.


The firm's lawyers specialize in a variety of practice areas such as banking and finance, bankruptcy, corporate law, construction and infrastructure, corporate litigation, energy and power, entertainment and media, environmental law, healthcare law, international arbitration and dispute resolution, intellectual property, investment funds and private equity, labor and employment, mergers and acquisitions, project finance and structured finance, real estate and tax.

The Chadbourne & Parke team is experienced in a range of legal matters, helping clients to manage risk, maximize opportunities and achieve their business objectives. Their lawyers use their knowledge and experience to provide strategic advice and to anticipate and assess business needs. In addition, they are actively involved in all aspects of their client's legal matters, relying on the extensive resources of their worldwide network to provide comprehensive legal solutions.

The team of attorneys at Chadbourne & Parke has extensive experience in a variety of industries and practice areas, including energy and power; telecommunications, media and technology; healthcare; financial services; and construction and infrastructure. These attorneys have a deep understanding of how the many legal and regulatory issues affecting these industries interact to create a dynamic and ever-evolving business climate.

Their team is also able to provide legal advice and representation in many international disputes, including arbitration, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings. With attorneys based in offices around the world, Chadbourne & Parke is able to leverage its international perspective to help clients navigate the increasingly complex landscape of international commercial litigation.

In conclusion, Chadbourne & Parke is a premier international law firm offering comprehensive legal services to clients in a wide range of industries and practice areas. Their team of legal professionals has extensive experience in many different fields and provides clients with strategic legal advice and representation in a multitude of global disputes. With their diverse and experienced international network, Chadbourne & Parke is able to provide clients with the support they need to manage risk, maximize opportunities and achieve their objectives.
 

Chadbourne & Parke, LLC

Chadbourne & Parke, LLC is an international law firm with a focus on corporate, finance, litigation, energy, and infrastructure matters. Founded in 1902, Chadbourne & Parke is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Beijing, Brussels, Istanbul, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The firm serves a wide range of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, foreign governments and state-owned entities, banks, hedge funds, and private equity funds. Chadbourne & Parke has been a leader in the legal industry for over 120 years, providing a valuable resource for clients in every stage of their business.
 

Chadbourne & Parke's History

Chadbourne & Parke has its roots in a small firm established in 1902 by Thomas Chadbourne in New York City. Over the years, the firm has grown substantially, expanding its practice areas and its office locations. Chadbourne & Parke has grown over time to become an international powerhouse, serving clients in all sectors of the corporate and financial markets.

The firm is deeply connected to its history and continues to uphold the values of excellence, integrity, and innovation that were first established over a century ago. In recent years, Chadbourne & Parke has been recognized by Chambers Global and other legal publications for its success in energy and finance matters, mergers and acquisitions, securities, and other areas.

In 2020, Chadbourne & Parke merged with Norton Rose Fulbright, forming the largest law firm in the world. With the merger, the firm was able to expand into new geographic markets, such as Latin America and Australia, while still providing the same quality legal services and client-focused approach that has been the cornerstone of Chadbourne & Parke for over 120 years.
 

Chadbourne & Parke's Practice Areas

Chadbourne & Parke has a wide range of practice areas, including corporate, finance, litigation, energy, and infrastructure. The firm's corporate practice areas include mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, capital markets, project finance, structured finance, and venture capital.

The firm's finance practice areas include securitization, derivatives, and structured finance, while its litigation practice areas include commercial litigation, white collar defense, international arbitration, and intellectual property prosecution.

The firm's other practice areas include energy and infrastructure, tax, real estate, and corporate governance. Chadbourne & Parke is highly experienced in these areas and is well-versed in the legal landscape of these complex and rapidly changing industries.

The firm's founder, Thomas Chadbourne, relocated his practice to New York in 1902. Prior to that, he had been practicing in Milwaukee and Chicago. His practice dealt solely with business law and branched out from there. In fact, the firm represented pilot brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright. Over time, the firm's name has gone through various iterations as a result of a series of mergers, finally becoming Chadbourne & Parke in 1985.

Chadbourne & Parke counts among its clients those who may bring negative publicity to the firm. They include tobacco giant Brown & Williamson and hard-liquor heavyweight Jim Beam. The firm has served as counsel for the former in product liability cases and the latter in the first-ever fetal alcohol syndrome lawsuit. Nonetheless, every entity has the right to the best litigation team it can afford, and those who represent such entities should not be looked down upon.

The firm's major practice areas are corporate, litigation, project finance, intellectual property, and bankruptcy. The project finance group has been lauded for its being one of the finest. They have handled projects in Brazil, Argentina, India, and Nepal, as well as numerous others in the republics that made up the former Soviet Union.

Getting hired at Chadbourne & Parke requires one to be from a top-15 law school with good grades, but the firm will also consider those who have stellar grades from a less than stellar law school. While grades do carry significant importance, they are no substitute for personality. The firm will not seek to employ those whom they feel will not be able to coexist amicably with the rest of the attorneys. Consequently, intangibles are factored into the decision and may often be the determining factors.

The firm has been described as friendly and laid back. Junior associates tend to become friends and socialize outside of the office. The partners are known to be kind and respectful to those junior associates, providing valuable insight and sharing relevant experiences. Generally, partners seem to have a vested interest in the success of associates. On the other hand, some associates have complained that their training has been inadequate. The initial training is sufficient, but there is no source of ongoing training. It may sound contradictory to previous statements, but most partners shy away from actually engaging in the nitty-gritty and training associates on various procedures. The exception is the litigation department. It seems the training utilized in that department is more thorough.

The hours might be erratic at Chadbourne & Parke, but attorneys are not pressured into putting in face time. Attorneys feel no shame in leaving early if their work is done. Conversely, there are obviously other days that can stretch into the wee hours of the morning. This is the exception, however, not the rule.

Like many other firms, efforts are underway to actively recruit and hire women and minority attorneys, as they are few and far between at Chadbourne & Parke. Something that may encourage more women to consider working for the firm are the monthly meetings held by women for women to discuss issues that are particularly relevant to women. Furthermore, the firm is flexible when dealing with part-time work schedules. This creates a more equitable family-work balance.

Chadbourne & Parke is not the largest, nor the smallest law firm. It is a firm with a collegial and open work environment and a fair amount of prestige. Attorneys are not slaves to consistently long hours, and thus they are generally upbeat going about their business. Chadbourne & Parke is anything but a pressure cooker, and that is precisely what makes it attractive to many attorneys.