History

If you want to understand Foley Hoag and our personality, take a look at our history. We were started in 1943 by two extraordinarily diverse individuals. Henry Foley and Garrett Hoag sought to establish a different kind of law firm. They were determined to hire the very best lawyers based entirely on individual merit, a departure from the exclusionary practices common in that era. Today, Foley Hoag lawyers practice law at the highest level in business transactions and litigation matters throughout the United States and around the world.

Our distinguished alumni include global business leaders, general counsel of leading companies, a U.S. Senator, a U.S. Ambassador, accomplished state policy leaders, university presidents, and the first African-American partner to be named to a Boston law firm.

Yet the firm’s evolving history, perhaps, can best be measured in the accolades afforded us by the marketplace that we serve and as a result of our commitment to the communities in which we live and work. Here are some of the recent accolades of which we are especially proud:

  • Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business has again ranked Foley Hoag’s leading practice areas in Massachusetts. The 2011 guide includes Foley Hoag in the areas of Antitrust, Bankruptcy and Restructuring, Corporate/M&A, Environment, Healthcare, Hedge & Mutual Funds, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Litigation: General Commercial, Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations, Private Equity: Venture Capital Investment. International Arbitration practice is noted nationally. Chambers cited 26 individual lawyers in the 2011 rankings.
  • Foley Hoag is ranked No. 5 on Vault's 20 Best Law Firms to Work For in the nation list for 2011. The firm also was ranked 4th nationally for overall job satisfaction, 8th for LGBT diversity, 8th in the women diversity category, 9th nationally for overall diversity and 11th nationally in the pro bono category.
  • The U.S. News & World Report - Best Lawyers 2011 “Best Law Firm” rankings rated Foley Hoag LLP as a top-tier law firm in several categories and have noted the firm in 34 practice areas overall. Foley Hoag was ranked in the national first-tier category for environmental litigation. The firm was listed in the first tier in Boston for the following practices: banking and finance law; criminal defense: white-collar - government investigations; criminal defense: white collar - litigation; energy law; litigation - environmental; litigation - intellectual property; litigation - patent; and product liability litigation - defendants.
  • The American Lawyer ranked Foley Hoag #8 out of the AmLaw 200 law firms in its 2011 pro bono scorecard.
  • Individual lawyers practicing across many Foley Hoag service areas have also been ranked by leading publications such as PLC: Which Lawyer? and The Legal 500.
  • Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) has honored Foley Hoag three years running with the top honor of “Largest Donation” in its annual Associates Drive. Many of the firm’s approximately 20,000 hours of pro bono legal work annually are devoted to matters stemming from our close relationship with GBLS.
  • Foley Hoag’s clients named the firm a “Go-To-Firm” in both Intellectual Property and Technology recently, as reported in Corporate Counsel magazine.
  • Multicultural Law magazine regularly cites Foley Hoag among its Top 100 firms for diversity.