Kenyon & Kenyon

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP
Headquarters New York City
No. of offices 3
No. of attorneys approximately 70
Major practice areas Intellectual property
Key people Edward T. Colbert, Managing Partner
Date founded 1879
Founder William H. Kenyon
Company type Limited liability partnership
Website
www.kenyon.com

Kenyon & Kenyon LLP is a law firm specializing in intellectual property law. It competes with other IP specialty firms, as well as with most general practice firms that have IP practices. The firm has offices in New York, Washington DC, and Silicon Valley. It provides its global clientele with litigation, prosecution, licensing and counseling services. The firm is particularly known for litigating high-stakes patent cases.

History

In January 1879, the firm was founded in New York City as Browne & Witter through the partnership of Causten Browne and William C. Witter. Soon thereafter, the firm was renamed Browne, Witter and Kenyon after William H. Kenyon joined the partnership. In 1899, the firm changed its name to Kenyon & Kenyon. That same year, Kenyon became one of the first law firms to hire a female attorney. In its early history, the firm litigated cases involving patents held by Thomas Edison, Nicola Tesla, and Charles Brush, which would later become known as the famous “Edison Light Bulb” patent cases. At the turn of the 20th century, when the automotive industry was beginning to take shape, the firm was also invited by Ford Motor Co. to defend it in a patent case involving the Selden patent, which threatened to stop production of Ford’s new “Model T.” Since its founding over 130 years ago, Kenyon has remained at the forefront of litigation involving pioneer patents which have helped shape industries.[1]

Rankings

Kenyon is routinely ranked as one of the most elite intellectual property law firms in the world. The firm is named the “Best Intellectual Property Firm in the US” by World Finance. In 2012, several Fortune 500 companies named Kenyon a “Go-To Law Firm” (American Lawyer) for intellectual property law. Legal referral guides such as Benchmark, Chambers Global, Chambers USA, Legal 500, Managing Intellectual Property, PLC Which Lawyer, and US News – Best Lawyers regularly name Kenyon as one of the top intellectual property law firms in the US.

Diversity

In 2012, Kenyon ranked second on a list of the Top 100 Law Firms for Diversity published by MultiCultural Law Magazine. The firm is recognized as having a high percentage of minority attorneys, particularly in partnership positions, by ALM publications which include The American Lawyer, The National Law Journal and The Minority Law Journal. Kenyon is also a multi-year recipient of Managing Intellectual Property's Strength in Diversity Award, which is awarded each year to one law firm that demonstrates an exceptional commitment to diversity. In addition, The American Lawyer identified Kenyon in its “Women Partner Watch” study as a firm that promoted women to partnership at a rate that well exceeded the 30 percent average determined for the legal industry. Similarly, Law360 has ranked Kenyon among the large law firms with the highest percentage of female partners.

Pro Bono

Kenyon offers each attorney up to 80 hours per year to use towards pro bono matters. In a July 2011 article by The American Lawyer, Kenyon was identified as one of the few law firms that actually increased its pro bono work at a time when many other firms cut their average pro bono hours. The primary source of Kenyon's pro bono work is the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (generally known as VLA), an organization dedicated to offering free legal representation, advice and education to artists and arts organizations in all creative disciplines who are otherwise unable to afford legal assistance. Kenyon also has a long-standing relationship with the Special Olympics, Inc. Since 1990, the firm has provided the organization with pro bono legal representation in connection with maintenance and management of its worldwide trademark and licensing rights portfolio.

Hiring

As a general rule, Kenyon requires that incoming associates have a technical background, in either the sciences or engineering. Most attorneys have either advanced degrees in their field, or significant work experience before entering law school. Entry to the law firm is extremely selective. Like most prestigious law firms, Kenyon fills its ranks by hiring summer associates, which are top law students between their second and third years of law school. These "summers," as they are called, work for the firm during their last summer of law school and then, if they receive an offer for full-time employment, begin working as an associate after they graduate law school and are admitted to the bar.

Notable lawyers and alumni

References

  1. ↑ Kenyon & Kenyon History http://www.kenyon.com/About/FirmHistory.aspx
  2. ↑ "Colbert's firm bio".
  3. ↑ "press release".
  4. ↑ Jonathan Reichman http://www.kenyon.com/attorneys/r/reichmanjonathan.aspx
  5. ↑ John Flock http://www.kenyon.com/attorneys/f/flockjohn.aspx

External links

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