Washington, DC

Overview

Our Washington, DC, office is the firm’s largest and oldest. Founded in 1946, the office embodies the experience and values on which the firm built its reputation as a leading resource of regulatory experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the US government and its agencies. From that foundation, the Washington, DC, office expanded to include virtually every area of corporate law as well as a major litigation practice.

Solving our clients' regulatory problems, both in the US and globally, is often the first hurdle in helping them reach their business goals. Such solutions require innovative approaches to work with all key decision-makers in the process. Among our Washington, DC, lawyers are many former high-ranking government officials. These include the former Chairman, Federal Trade Commission;  Director, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Competition; General Counsel, Consumer Products Safety Commission; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation Controls; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Controls; General Counsel, Commodity Futures Trading Commission; Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Healthcare Fraud and Abuse Issues; Comptroller of the Currency; Legal Adviser, Department of State; General Counsel, National Security Agency; General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency; Senior Counsel for Employment, US Senate; Deputy Chief, Criminal Fraud Section, US Department of Justice; Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States; Ranking Member, Committee on Homeland Security, US House of Representatives; and Director of the Coverage and Analysis Group in the Health Care Financing Administration's Office of Clinical Standards and Quality G86.

The office’s interdisciplinary corporate practice includes antitrust, bankruptcy, compensation and benefits, consumer product safety, corporate and securities, employment law, environmental, financial services, government contracts, information security and privacy, intellectual property, international trade, litigation, product liability, public policy/legislative, real estate, securities enforcement and litigation, tax, and telecommunications.

As a full-service law firm, Arnold & Porter handles all aspects of hundreds of major transactions each year. Clients range from large, multinational corporations to regional companies to rising small-cap companies to start-ups and entrepreneurs. They come from a variety of industries and include companies headquartered in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. In every case, we focus on our clients' business objectives and on achieving their goals in the transaction. For many relatively routine transactions, we work hard to maximize value by closing quickly and cost-effectively. We also take pride in our success in structuring complicated and innovative transactions. The ability to draw on diverse practice areas within the firm is a key strength in negotiating a wide variety of specialized commercial contracts, as well as in most types of corporate transactions.

The firm has always been known for its extensive litigation practice. Litigation remains today Arnold & Porter's largest practice area with substantial involvement in virtually all types of litigation that affect businesses in the US and abroad. These include administrative regulation, energy and environment, financial services, government contracts, intellectual property, product liability, and securities litigation, to name a few. In response to client needs, the Washington, DC, office has significantly expanded its international arbitration practice with the addition of several key partners and counsel, many of whom have a strong focus on sovereign work in Latin America.

Arnold & Porter is the recipient of numerous awards and rankings. In 2010, for the eighth year in a row, FORTUNE magazine named Arnold & Porter one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For." At the same time, the firm was listed on Working Mother's "100 Best Companies" list and The American Lawyer's "A-List." It was the only firm in the US simultaneously recognized by all three lists.