Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C., office is widely regarded as a major law firm player in our Nation’s Capital, with 150 attorneys who concentrate their practices on a diverse array of services ranging from maritime and international trade to corporate and finance, energy, environmental, government contracts, insurance recovery, intellectual property, labor and employment, litigation, political law and policy, real estate, tax, and white collar defense.
Significant mergers and strategic combinations in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office over the last twenty years both enhanced and strengthened the firm’s local and national service offerings and capabilities. In 1998, Blank Rome merged with Wigman, Cohen, Leitner & Myers, a D.C.-based intellectual property firm that expanded both the firm’s intellectual property and international trade practices, locally and nationally. The firm continued its strategic growth in Washington, D.C., in 2003 through a combination with the leading maritime firm Dyer, Ellis & Joseph, solidifying the firm’s top-tier global maritime practice, and the establishment of our wholly owned subsidiary Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, which fortified the firm’s legal and political networks and relationships in the D.C. metro area and beyond. In 2012, the firm welcomed two name partners and attorneys from Janis, Schuelke & Wechsler, a D.C.-based white collar boutique firm that added to Blank Rome’s capabilities in the areas of white collar criminal defense, FCPA, antitrust, and corporate internal investigations and compliance.
In February 2016, the firm welcomed more than 100 attorneys from Dickstein Shapiro LLP, significantly expanding the firm’s D.C. office by tripling its size as well as adding prominent insurance recovery and government contracts practices, enhancing the firm’s intellectual property size and offerings, and providing greater strategic depth in other core firm practice areas, including corporate and finance, real estate, and litigation.
In addition to its strong regional and national legal networks and capabilities, the firm’s Washington, D.C., office is committed to the local community, partnering with various nonprofit organizations and academic institutions, such as Thurgood Marshall Academy, a college-prep, law-related public charter high school located in Anacostia, where the firm engages with the Academy on job shadowing programs and mentoring opportunities; United Way, where the firm supports its various programs through providing donations and support; and Gifts for the Homeless, Dress for Success, CareerGear, MenzFit, and Bread for the City, where the firm donates food and clothes to help these organizations reach out to the thousands of men, women, and children in the D.C. metro area who need support.
In April 2015, Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C., office was honored at the “40 at 50 Judicial Pro Bono Recognition Breakfast” by the Standing Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services of the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit for its exceptional record and outstanding leadership in pro bono service in 2015. The “40 at 50” is given to firms where at least 40 percent of its attorneys in Washington performed 50 or more hours of pro bono work.
Blank Rome’s Washington, D.C., office continues to expand through the addition of leading attorneys who complement the firm’s growing national platform and capabilities, and looks forward to further strategic growth and community involvement in the near future.