ABOUT US

McGuireWoods has spent 190 years earning and maintaining the trust of clients by virtue of our deep and broad legal experience; a passion for understanding their businesses and markets; innovative delivery of practical, business-minded solutions; and unmatched client service. That’s the reason we have been on BTI Consulting’s Client Service A-Team top 30 list — the gold standard — 19 times. We are grateful our clients take note.

We take an industry-centric approach to serving clients. With nine industry teams, we are one of the few — and first — firms to truly look at the law through that lens to ensure a commercial mind-set.

We represent leading financial services institutions, including the top 10 U.S. banks ranked by assets, fintech companies investment advisers, and broker-dealers in litigation, transactional and regulatory matters. Our long history helping prominent financial institutions overcome challenges and achieve their business goals is touted by independent authorities such as Law360, which twice named McGuireWoods a “Banking Practice Group of the Year.”

Our top-tier private equity practice stands apart for excellent deal work and an entrepreneurial approach that adds value for clients through introductions and referrals of tailored investment opportunities. McGuireWoods’ international Independent Sponsor and Emerging Manager programs distinguish us as the pre-eminent law firm for emerging private investment fund managers.

The firm helps healthcare providers and investors navigate a daunting combination of regulatory, market and financial challenges, bringing together lawyers from across practice areas to develop and deliver business-focused solutions. Our annual Healthcare Private Equity and Finance Conference is one of the largest PE events in the U.S. healthcare market.

Our energy practice combines legal, policy, technology and business experience to meet the challenges clients face in all sectors of a rapidly changing industry. We continuously earn nationwide rankings for our energy transactional, regulatory and litigation work.

McGuireWoods’ experience in high-stakes litigation and government investigations is second to none. We have represented Fortune 100 companies and individuals in some of the most prominent criminal, regulatory and investigative matters in recent years, repeatedly earning top national accolades. Our deep bench of trial and appellate lawyers includes six fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers and 11 former U.S. Supreme Court law clerks. We provide powerful advocacy to manage the most serious enforcement risks and give clients a strategic advantage.

Excellence is our hallmark, a standard set by top practitioners across McGuireWoods’ litigation and corporate teams, including former prosecutors, enforcement officials, high-level government lawyers, in-house counsel and industry experts whose unique insight provides powerful advantages for clients.

WHO WE ARE

Corporate

Litigation

WHAT WE DO

Results & Value

First things first: We get results.

But that is not all we are about. Our passion — what drives us above and beyond — is doing all of that and adding value every step of the way.

What does that mean?

Value is a slippery concept. The definition varies from client to client and industry to industry. Here’s how we see it.

There are no cookie-cutter solutions. Even with seemingly routine matters, we take time to listen to clients, to hear and understand what’s important to them, to craft solutions tailored to their businesses and aligned with their cultures, and to do it all in an efficient, cost-effective and transparent manner. Our goal is to leave clients wondering why all service providers don’t deliver more than they expected. More proactive thinking. More diverse views. More attentive service. More innovative approaches. More connections. More bang for the buck. More value.

Here’s why. Beating client expectations requires significant investment in our business and in our clients’ businesses. We have to assemble, nurture and deploy the talent, the tools, the technology, and the techniques to make it work.

We’ve made the necessary commitments. We invest in listening to our clients directly and through third-party interviews that deliver the unvarnished skinny on our performance and how we can continuously improve our service delivery.

We invest in client and industry teams that help us understand your world as if we were in your shoes.

We invest in systems and technologies including cutting-edge AI tools, that render us more efficient and more effective.

We have mastered the customization of alternative fee arrangements with an array of proven alternatives to the billable hour across matters of all sizes and shapes. That’s why the firm earned top rankings in the PERSUIT 50 and took first place for our use of innovative pricing models. We invest in pro bono partnerships, programs to advance diversity and inclusion in the profession, secondments, and much more.

Most firms talk a good game when it comes to value. But there’s a reason we have been on BTI Consulting’s Client Service A-Team top 30 list  — the gold standard — 19 times. And there’s a reason Financial Times continuously ranked us one of the most innovative law firms in North America.

WHEN WE COMMIT

Insights & Industries

If we believe something is right for our clients — whether that’s entering a new market, bringing in useful technology, hiring a talented lateral, or upgrading our associate training — we go for it. Our commitment to industry teams is a good example.

We are true believers in taking an industry-centric approach to serving clients. Not because it’s the latest Big Law fad. Because we decided, many years ago, that it makes sense. Clients are not focused on our business. They care about their own. That’s why our industry teams are central to how we serve them.

Lots of firms lay claim to an industry approach. But very few make the investments — in leadership, knowledge, support — needed to succeed. Clients have long made it clear that, other than price-of-admission factors such as expertise and responsiveness, nothing is more important to them than outside counsel knowing their business. And believe it or not, their business is not M&A or class actions or e-discovery. They are in the energy business, the banking and finance business, the healthcare business. Our industry teams pave the way for more efficient and effective service by viewing the world through our clients’ eyes. With more than a dozen teams, we are one of the few — and first — firms to look at the law from a business perspective.

There’s another reason industry focus matters. We are a uniquely collaborative law firm. Our lawyers and consultants like and respect one another. It is second nature to them to share insights across sectors. This enables us to “see around corners” and let clients know that important changes afoot in one sector may soon find their way to another. Our clients tell us such insights are invaluable, and we agree. We have taken purposeful steps, through our industry team program, to assure that our legal counsel is informed by a commercial mind-set.

History

1834

Egbert R. Watson, private secretary to President James Monroe, launches a practice in Charlottesville, Virginia — the seed that will blossom into McGuireWoods.

1870

George Perkins joins Watson in what will become predecessor firm Perkins, Battle & Minor.

1898

Murray Mason McGuire starts a practice in Richmond that becomes the partnership of McGuire & Bryan.

1966

The modern firm is born when the Battle and McGuire firms join to form McGuire, Woods & Battle.

1987

A merger spawns McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe, adding Virginia offices in Alexandria, Charlottesville, Norfolk, Richmond and Tysons, plus Washington, D.C.

1991-94

Offices are added in Baltimore and Jacksonville.

1998

The firm launches a public affairs subsidiary, McGuireWoods Consulting.

1998-2000

Offices are added in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Pittsburgh.

2003

McGuireWoods merges with Ross and Hardies, adding 155 lawyers.

2005

The firm expands to California through a 40-lawyer merger in Los Angeles.

2006

Renowned IT firm Gordon & Glickson joins McGuireWoods in Chicago.

2008

The firm completes a major merger with 145-lawyer Helms Mulliss & Wicker, with offices in Charlotte and Raleigh.

2009

The firm opens a London office via a merger.

2011

The firm enters the Texas market with offices in Austin and Houston.

2014

The firm opens in Dallas, its third Texas office.

2015

Through a combination with innovative litigation boutique Integer Law, the firm adds a second California office in downtown Los Angeles.

2016

The firm opens an office in San Francisco.

2016

The firm enhances its service to clients with interests in Asia through a strategic alliance with FuJae Partners in Shanghai.