"From Day One, we had the goal and objective of a broader practice."
The firm cemented its pre-eminent position by building unparalleled depth of expertise in newly developing areas of the law. Beginning with our efforts to help draft the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, our firm earned a reputation for serving clients at the forefront of labor negotiations. Continuing this tradition over the years, the firm expanded its leadership position and invested time and effort into building expertise across areas of emerging risk for our clients that grew from labor arbitrations, pension administration, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and disability discrimination.
In 1971, the firm established a presence in the nation’s capital to reinforce our position as a thought leader and policy advocate for our clients in legislative and regulatory affairs. The firm opened the Los Angeles office in 1973 to better serve our existing clients who had significant operations on the West Coast in anticipation of significant labor work from growers in California. Our bicoastal expansion continued with the opening of the New York office in 1978, and the San Francisco office in 1984. In 1994 the growing importance of state law in California prompted us to expand our presence by opening an office in Sacramento.
"In 1971, we opened an office in Washington, DC for two reason: First, we had substantial activity in the east and secondly, we believed that a large national law firm needs good contacts in the nation's Capital."
"In 1978, we opened the New York office, then having significant clients in the New York Daily News, The New York Times and The Publisher's Association of New York."
As the firm grew, our client base came to include many of the largest companies in the country and we developed one of the largest public sector practices in the nation.
To provide adequate geographic coverage to this clientele,
we continued expanding into key business centers in the
Sun Belt and in new England by opening our Houston office in 1995, our Atlanta office in 1996, and our Boston office in 1999. These expansion decisions established a strong national platform along with critical bases of operations in key growth regions of the country.
In every instance, the firm took a deliberate and prudent approach to market entry by starting small, taking our time to learn about the market and building a client base in each city. From 2000 to 2003, the firm underwent a series of strategic mergers: McCullough Sherrill in 2000, Chappell White in 2001, and D’Ancona & Pflaum in 2003. These steps were critical to the diversification of the firm’s capabilities across Corporate, Litigation, and Real Estate, and expanded our ability to service clients in commercial real estate, financial services, insurance, pension funds, and venture capital.
Increasingly, our clients are global and they operate across borders. Recognizing the need to address our clients’ international needs, the firm set out to build a best-in-class international service capability. With our London office opening in 2011, followed by the launch of Shanghai, Melbourne, and Sydney in 2013, we have built a unique hub-and-spoke model that provides full coverage over key regional markets in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and APAC (Asia-Pacific). With focus on complex work in key practice areas, the international practice continues to build a cohort of highquality partners while building revenue and strengthening relationships with strategic clients of the firm.
Seyfarth is the legal industry leader in finding a better way for lawyers and clients to work together. We began in 2005 by adapting Lean Six Sigma to meet the demands of legal practice in an approach we call SeyfarthLean. By 2011, we built a world-class team of multidisciplinary experts to bring SeyfarthLean to our clients, delivering legal and business solutions specific to their unique needs. Seeing the potential of technology to transform the way we work, we developed the Seyfarth Link platform as a launching pad for custom client solutions. Today, we are harnessing machine learning, robotic process automation and other emerging technologies to help us—and our clients—evolve into next-generation leaders in the delivery of legal services.
