About Us: Firm Profile

At McGuireWoods, we have one thing on our minds – serving clients. Our commitment to providing them with quality work and personalized service has allowed us to become one of the most client-centric law firms in the country. We deliver exceptional value, use technology to provide effective and efficient legal solutions and employ a diverse workforce to bring real-world and innovative perspectives to meet our clients’ needs.

With approximately 900 lawyers and 18 strategically located offices worldwide, McGuireWoods uses client-focused teams to serve public, private, government and nonprofit clients from many industries including automotive, energy resources, health care, technology and transportation, thus meeting clients’ needs from virtually any area of law.

Client Focus

McGuireWoods Kazakhstan's intellectual property team has been recognized as the best IP team in Kazakhstan for 2009. – Agency for Corporate Communications and the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics & Strategic Research, 2009

Named a "Go-To” law firm by Fortune 100 corporate counsel who were surveyed about which law firms represent America's largest corporations. We ranked as one of the top 10 go-to law firms in the United States, and one of the top five firms for labor and employment work. – Corporate Counsel, 2009

170 lawyers named “Best Lawyers” in this leading referral guide to the legal profession in the United States. Also named a “Best Lawyers in America Top Ranked Firm.” – Best Lawyers in America®, 2010

One of only 50 law firms nationwide named a “Best Law Firm for Women.” – Working Mother Magazine, 2009, 2007

McGuireWoods and AOL named Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year for creating first-of-its-kind relationship between a corporate in-house legal department and a law firm. AOL attorneys and McGuireWoods lawyers provide a monthly outreach clinic in Reston/Herndon to help citizens with immigration, child custody, divorce, housing, public benefits and other issues. – Northern Virginia Pro Bono Law Center, 2008

Ranked third in the country among top law firms for serving as issuer’s counsel for U.S. debt, equity and equity-related transactions in 2008. We represented issuers in connection with offerings representing more than $63 billion in proceeds. We also ranked in the top two for U.S. equity and equity-related issuances, U.S convertible offerings on behalf of issuers, and U.S. preferred stock by issuers. – Thomson Reuters Capital Markets Review of Legal Advisors, 2009

For the fourth year in a row, BTI Consulting Group, Inc. has listed McGuireWoods as one of its top 30 “Client Service A-Team” law firms based on client surveys – one of only 10 law firms in the country to make the list for four consecutive years. – BTI Consulting, 2009

Ranked one of only two firms in the country to have our wealth management practice receive the highest possible ranking, Band 1 for Wealth Management: Nationwide. – Chambers USA, 2009

Ranked as having one of the "Top 10 Busiest Employment, Civil Rights and ADA Practices" in the United States. – Employment Law360 Litigation Almanac, 2009

Consistently ranked in the top 20 firms nationally in syndicated loans by volume of credit exposure and number of deals by Loan Pricing Corporation’s Law Firm League Table. For the first three quarters of 2009, we ranked No. 6 overall by deal volume and No. 13 overall by dollar volume representing lead arrangers/administrative agents in major syndicated finance transactions. Reuters Loan Pricing Corporation is the premier provider of league tables in the syndicated loan market. – Reuters Loan Pricing Corporation, 2009

Once again named a "Top 100 Law Firm for Diversity" and one of the top law firms for women and African-American lawyers. – Multicultural Law, 2008, 2009

Ranked the No. 1 bond counsel firm in Virginia for the third time in the past four years, having served as bond counsel on more than $2.3 billion in tax-exempt transactions. Also ranked third in the Southeast region of the United States for the volume of bonds issued by public finance clients. – The Bond Buyer, 2009

Ranked one of the top 10 largest health care law firm in the United States. – American Health Lawyers Association, 2009

Named one of the "Top Guardians of the IP Nest." In the listing based on a survey of BusinessWeek's 50 most innovative companies, McGuireWoods is one of only 23 firms in the United States named a "go-to firm." – IP Law & Business, 2009

Ranked one of the top 40 trademark law firms in the United States. – IP Today, 2009

62 partners recognized as “America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.” – Chambers USA, 2009

134 lawyers named “Super Lawyers,” an honor awarded annually to the top 5% of each state’s lawyers; and 61 lawyers named Super Lawyers "Rising Stars" for 2009. – Super Lawyers, Law & Politics, 2009

Achieved a score of 95% for the firm's treatment of LGBT employees in the workplace. – Human Rights Campaign’s Annual Corporate Equality Index, 2008

Ranked the 35th largest law firm in the United States in the National Law Journal’s list of the largest 250 U.S. law firms. – National Law Journal, 2008

Ranked a "Primary" law firm for pharmaceuticals.– BTI Consulting Group’s Industry Power Rankings, 2008

Listed in the "Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms," where 19,000 practicing attorneys ranked the top 100 firms based on prestige. – Vault Guide to Top 100 Law Firms, 2007, 2008

Named one of the "Top 100 Law Firms for Women." – Women 3.0 Magazine, 2008

Named a "Go-To” law firm for financial services by in-house counsel at several leading U.S. financial services companies. – Corporate Counsel, 2007

Corporate website named one of the top 30 law firm sites out of 250 in the United States.
– InternetMarketingAttorney.com, 2007

Named a “Bet-the-Company” law firm for earning clients’ votes of confidence in critical matters/crisis situations. – BTI Power Rankings, 2007

Named in "Which Law Firms are at the Top of GCs' Speed-Dial List?" as being among GCs’ speed dial contacts. According to the article, GCs say they want the "massive firepower" of firms like ours on their side. – Corporate Counsel, 2006

Member of DuPont Primary Law Firm Network from inception of DuPont's convergence program. Honored consistently with “Challenge Award,” given to the best in an already elite group of DuPont’s primary law firms for their contributions and support of the advancement of the DuPont Legal Model’s objectives. – DuPont Challenge Awards

Inaugural recipient of International Paper's “Lighthouse Award” for distinguishing ourselves in the area of diversity by example and leadership. – International Paper

Awarded the Thomas L. Sager Award for our commitment to hiring, retaining and promoting ethnic minority lawyers.
– Minority Corporate Counsel Association

Partnering

Having been selected to participate in formal convergence programs with clients such as DuPont and International Paper, McGuireWoods prides itself on “partnering” with clients by listening to their needs, understanding their businesses, and utilizing this knowledge base to provide efficient service. In many cases, we serve as national or regional counsel for corporations such as DuPont, Ford and Siemens.

We apply the lessons learned from these relationships to better manage work for all our clients. Knowing that clients have specific needs, we discuss arrangements with each client to find what best matches each client’s preferences. Our hourly rates are competitive, and we have a number of alternative fee arrangements in place with many clients. We have also worked with clients to determine fixed fees for a portfolio of work or phases of litigation, and have arranged retainers and blended rates when appropriate.

As a leader in the successful implementation of alternative fee arrangements, McGuireWoods was featured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune business section and was highlighted in American Lawyer Media and the Baltimore Business Journal for our commitment to and experience in alternative fee arrangements. Our alternative fee arrangements allow us to work with each client’s individual needs to develop relationships that work.

Technology

At McGuireWoods, technology is one of many tools we use to provide exceptional client service. While we of course use traditional venues such as e-mail and instant messaging, we are particularly adept at creating and using more robust methods of collaboration as well. We bring to bear extranets, case management systems, and real-time online meetings to name a few, all to improve responsiveness, control costs, and increase the depth of our client interactions.

We share knowledge internally through a formal knowledge management initiative that identifies, captures and publishes best practices within the firm. We can summon the institutional knowledge of our entire firm to identify specific experience among our lawyers, or to leverage best practices based on that experience. The end results for clients are consistent work product, incredible responsiveness, and efficient delivery.

Our website provides legal updates in plain language with common sense commentary. We also keep thousands of clients and friends updated on breaking developments through a complimentary e-mail news service, targeted to specific audiences with various interests and needs for legal news. We host regular seminars, live and virtual, on critical aspects of the law in each of our practice areas.

We recognize that sophisticated clients often engage the services of multiple firms. We excel at working alongside other outside counsel to clients’ mutual advantage. For example, we may serve as National Discovery Counsel, coordinating discovery efforts across multiple states with different trial counsel in each. We have shared both technology and access to information with such firms so that clients get the benefit of a coordinated team.

Breadth of Services

To complement our legal services, we offer a number of solutions outside the legal realm, such as those provided by our subsidiaries McGuireWoods Consulting LLC and McGuireWoods Capital Group. These groups offer a wide range of government and public relations services, business advisory services, and other non-legal consulting services.

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McGuireWoods is a member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 160 member firms, creators of Hieros Gamos, a comprehensive legal database. We are also members of the State Capital Global Law Firm Group (member firms of the State Capital Law Firm Group practice independently and not in a relationship for the joint practice of law), and a part of the United States Law Firm Group, a network of 19 general practice U.S. law firms, each separate entities that practice law independently. McGuireWoods is also a participant in the DuPont Legal Model.