Foley Hoag Joins American Lawyer's Select Group of Top 50 A-List Firms
Boston, MA - July 14, 2008
Firm receives top marks for pro bono service, associate satisfaction in addition to diversity and revenue performance; Foley Hoag handling major pro bono cases in domestic violence, fair housing, civil rights
The American Lawyer named Foley Hoag LLP to its annual “A-List” of the country’s 50 elite law firms that are "best at balancing a thriving business with their obligations to the profession." Inclusion in the A-List is based not only on economic success but also on success in furthering diversity, pro bono work, and associate satisfaction.
“For Foley Hoag, being included on the A-List is a special honor because it acknowledges the values that are most important to the firm,” said Robby Sanoff, Managing Partner of Foley Hoag. “We are proud of the strong economic growth Foley Hoag has enjoyed over the past few years, but great firms are more than engines of economic production. Great firms require an unstinting commitment to professional excellence, client service, and community. Those are the values upon which Foley Hoag has been built.”
The AmLaw’s A-List was started in 2003 to provide a more multi-dimensional assessment of law firm success than the magazine’s rigorous yearly examination of revenues and profitability. The list represents a broad portrait of how well the country’s 200 largest firms rate on diversity, associate satisfaction and pro bono service, in addition to revenues per lawyer. Points are assessed for each category and the firms are compared for overall excellence.
As the magazine’s editors note of the A-List winners, they are the firms “where diversity is an achievement, not a goal; pro bono is an honor instead of a chore; associates are involved and challenged. . .”
Foley Hoag’s rank of number 50 marks its first showing on the list, helped as AmLaw observed, with major jumps forward in three of the key ratings categories. Notably, Foley Hoag’s pro bono score of 182 points placed it squarely among the top 10 firms nationally. Similarly, only six of the Top 20 firms had higher marks for associate satisfaction (159).
Foley Hoag has an especially strong tradition in pro bono work – dating from its representation of plaintiffs in the original suit to desegregate Boston’s public schools in the 1970s. With approximately 250 lawyers in Boston and Washington, Foley Hoag is nonetheless able to handle some 100 pro bono matters annually, accounting for approximately 20,000 attorney hours.
Among recent noteworthy cases, the firm has served as lead trial counsel on behalf of a group of low-income tenants in a discrimination and fair housing class action against the city of Lowell, Mass. Plaintiffs claim that the city and its local housing authority unfairly demolished a public housing complex and forced tenants to relocate to high-poverty, high crime neighborhoods.
In another major matter, Foley Hoag has brought a civil rights lawsuit in conjunction with the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, seeking an end to broad sexual, gender and HIV-status discrimination.
The firm has placed a particular focus of its pro bono efforts in attacking domestic abuse, including the creation of several pioneering prevention programs. The firm represents more than 40 survivors of domestic violence and has one of the most active violence prevention practices in the Northeast. Foley Hoag’s work in this area ranges from obtaining restraining orders for victims to appellate representations and immigration petitions for clients.
Earlier this year, the Massachusetts Supreme Court adopted an argument advanced in an amicus brief filed by Foley Hoag on behalf of several domestic violence advocacy organizations. The court accepted the firm’s position that judges could issue an abuse prevention order against a non-resident defendant even without a finding of personal jurisdiction. The ruling was considered a key victory for victims of domestic and sexual abuse in Massachusetts.
In another A-List distinction, Foley Hoag is one of only five firms based in Boston included among this year’s Top 50 – each of the other firms is considerably larger, by hundreds of attorneys, proving this is one ranking that is about more than just the numbers. “As has long been the case, Foley Hoag plays larger than its size,” Mr. Sanoff said, adding: “We congratulate all of the Top 50 winners, but especially our own lawyers who every day live up to the highest ideals in the workplace and in the communities in which they live – their collective values, compassion and respect for others are the core of any A-List recognition.”
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