The 2015 Washington Litigation Departments of the Year

In this special report, The National Law Journal takes the measure of litigation ­departments in our nation’s capital. We asked top practices to tell us about their shops — head counts and revenues, and biggest wins and losses. Our staff scrutinized the data and selected the nine firms you’ll read about in these pages. Williams & Connolly is the top honoree, but it was a close call, and we selected two runners-up: Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Covington & Burling. We also recognize firms with distinguished practices in intellectual property, general civil litigation, white-collar defense, insurance, products liability and labor and employment. — Beth Frerking, Editor in Chief

WASHINGTON LITIGATION DEPARTMENT OF THE YEAR
WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY
In cases with billions of dollars on the line, Williams & Connolly last year delivered resounding victories for its clients — and the wins were not of the “we settled for less than the client expected” variety.

FINALIST
BOIES, SCHILLER & FLEXNER
Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s ambitions to be one of Washington’s power players paid off big in 2014 with high-profile hires and significant wins for the firm’s litigation department.

FINALIST
COVINGTON & BURLING
Covington & Burling’s move in 2014 to a modern, glass-walled ­building in Washington’s CityCenter reduced the firm’s office space, but its lawyers kept the big wins coming.

GENERAL CIVIL LITIGATION
HOGAN LOVELLS
Whether a class action seeking $1 billion in damages was at stake, or a cybercrime that placed millions of credit card numbers at risk, Hogan Lovells’ cross-team approach successfully navigated client storms for a banner year in 2014.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LATHAM & WATKINS
He wasn’t just out front. In making Section 101 arguments in 2009 for a key client facing a high-stakes patent infringement suit, Latham’s Matthew Moore was in another race.

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
JONES DAY
Not many labor and employment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court involve constitutional questions or make national headlines. But three recent cases litigated by Jones Day attorneys in Washington show the range and capacity of the practice to play with high stakes.

WHITE-COLLAR DEFENSE
GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER
In 2014, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher steered major corporations through complex negotiations with U.S. and foreign regulators investigating financial misconduct. Those negotiations resulted in settlements that shielded the firm’s clients from long-term exposure and included smaller financial penalties than those faced by some companies..

INSURANCE
STEPTOE & JOHNSON LLP
At Steptoe & Johnson LLP’s Wash­ington office, stability is such that insurance litigation partners often have represented a large insurer far longer than any of the carrier’s employees have worked there.

PRODUCTS LIABILITY
SKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER & FLOM
After a judge tossed out a bellwether case in 2013, lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom moved for the dismissal of 650 additional lawsuits that linked osteoporosis drug Fosamax to femoral fractures.