Sometimes the choice of outside counsel boils down to which firm can cover your company in a distant jurisdiction that is unfamiliar to in-house attorneys. But Abercrombie & Fitch Co. found a very important ally in a firm less than 20 miles away from its New Albany, Ohio, headquarters.
Robert Bostrom, the company's GC, says that Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease is one of its go-to firms. Not only does Vorys have a deep understanding of retail, he says, but its close proximity to Abercrombie in the greater Columbus, Ohio, area allows the firm and the retailer to partner in unique ways.

Read more: Who Represents America's Biggest Companies?

For instance, law students of diverse backgrounds are eligible to apply each summer for a fellowship program where a student will “spend more of the summer at Vorys, but will also spend several weeks on assignment at Abercrombie working in their legal department,” according to the law firm's published response to a 2017 diversity survey.
Bostrom explains that Abercrombie has standards for all of its law firms to make sure firms are giving proper opportunities to employees regardless of race and gender, and it's easier to promulgate these standards given the company's long-standing relationship with Vorys.
For Abercrombie, outside counsel diversity is about more than a metric. Bostrom says such measurements can be “deceiving.” “If a firm has a certain percentage of employees of a diverse background but isn't giving them a lot of important work, that's not helping them,” he says. “Because Vorys is here, we can go beyond the numbers.”

Bostrom says Abercrombie turns to Vorys for “a broad range” of issues, including labor and employment and real estate. He says the firm has a “deep level of experience” in retail—also serving L Brands Inc., parent company to Victoria's Secret, Henri Bendel and Bath & Body Works, which is headquartered nearby.

“That's important to have in law firm selection, not just lawyers who know the law but know the law and their client.”

About half of Abercrombie's outside counsel work is divided between four firms, Vorys among them. Jones Day is the other most commonly used in the U.S., and Bostrom says the retailer turns to its lawyers for transactional, litigation and intellectual property matters.

Jones Day has an office in Columbus as well, but Abercrombie has a lot more ground to cover than just the Ohio area. The two other firms the retailer turns to the most work overseas.
Internationally, Abercrombie frequently taps Dentons and Baker Mc­Kenzie. The firms have been particularly helpful as Abercrombie has expanded in the Middle East—assisting the brand with real estate leasing and trademark protection. When Bostrom joined Abercrombie in 2014, he brought in Dentons because he'd heard the firm has “the best presence in the Middle East, especially in the retail business.” Dentons “has been a great addition to supplement our relationship globally with Baker McKenzie,” he says.

Sometimes the choice of outside counsel boils down to which firm can cover your company in a distant jurisdiction that is unfamiliar to in-house attorneys. But Abercrombie & Fitch Co. found a very important ally in a firm less than 20 miles away from its New Albany, Ohio, headquarters.
Robert Bostrom, the company's GC, says that Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease is one of its go-to firms. Not only does Vorys have a deep understanding of retail, he says, but its close proximity to Abercrombie in the greater Columbus, Ohio, area allows the firm and the retailer to partner in unique ways.

Read more: Who Represents America's Biggest Companies?

For instance, law students of diverse backgrounds are eligible to apply each summer for a fellowship program where a student will “spend more of the summer at Vorys, but will also spend several weeks on assignment at Abercrombie working in their legal department,” according to the law firm's published response to a 2017 diversity survey.
Bostrom explains that Abercrombie has standards for all of its law firms to make sure firms are giving proper opportunities to employees regardless of race and gender, and it's easier to promulgate these standards given the company's long-standing relationship with Vorys.
For Abercrombie, outside counsel diversity is about more than a metric. Bostrom says such measurements can be “deceiving.” “If a firm has a certain percentage of employees of a diverse background but isn't giving them a lot of important work, that's not helping them,” he says. “Because Vorys is here, we can go beyond the numbers.”

Bostrom says Abercrombie turns to Vorys for “a broad range” of issues, including labor and employment and real estate. He says the firm has a “deep level of experience” in retail—also serving L Brands Inc., parent company to Victoria's Secret, Henri Bendel and Bath & Body Works, which is headquartered nearby.

“That's important to have in law firm selection, not just lawyers who know the law but know the law and their client.”

About half of Abercrombie's outside counsel work is divided between four firms, Vorys among them. Jones Day is the other most commonly used in the U.S., and Bostrom says the retailer turns to its lawyers for transactional, litigation and intellectual property matters.

Jones Day has an office in Columbus as well, but Abercrombie has a lot more ground to cover than just the Ohio area. The two other firms the retailer turns to the most work overseas.
Internationally, Abercrombie frequently taps Dentons and Baker Mc­Kenzie. The firms have been particularly helpful as Abercrombie has expanded in the Middle East—assisting the brand with real estate leasing and trademark protection. When Bostrom joined Abercrombie in 2014, he brought in Dentons because he'd heard the firm has “the best presence in the Middle East, especially in the retail business.” Dentons “has been a great addition to supplement our relationship globally with Baker McKenzie,” he says.