Headquarters | Chicago |
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No. of offices | 77 |
No. of attorneys | > 4,600 |
No. of employees | > 13,000 |
Major practice areas | Corporate law |
Key people | Paul Rawlinson, Global chair |
Revenue | US$2.62 billion (FY 16) |
Website | |
www |
Baker McKenzie, founded as Baker & McKenzie in 1949, is a multinational law firm. As of August 2016[update], it is ranked as the second-largest international law firm in the world by headcount with 13,000 employees including 6,045 fee earners and 4,600 lawyers on a full-time equivalent basis in 77 offices across 47 countries. It is also ranked as the second largest law firm in the world in terms of revenue with US$2.62 billion in annual revenue in FY2016. It is the largest international law firm in Asia Pacific, Continental Europe and Latin America. In December 2016 and as part of a major visual identity change, Baker & McKenzie re-branded and dropped the '&' from its name to become Baker McKenzie.
The firm’s current global chair is former London managing partner Paul Rawlinson, who is the 15th chair of Baker McKenzie and the first British chair. Rawlinson succeeded Eduardo C. Leite who was chair of Baker McKenzie from 2010 to 2016.
Co-founding partner Russell Baker, born in Wisconsin and raised in New Mexico, opened his early practice Baker & Simpson in Chicago in 1925 upon his graduation from the University of Chicago School of Law. Baker had early exposure to the Spanish language and other cultures, and his firm provided legal services to Chicago's growing Mexican American community. The firm later advised U.S. companies investing in Latin America.
In 1949, the firm relaunched with John McKenzie, a litigator who had graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. McKenzie took charge of the litigation practice, and Baker built an international practice. Through the 1950s, the firm's client roster expanded.
Baker McKenzie became an international firm beginning in 1955, when a lawyer in Venezuela contacted Baker McKenzie about opening a joint venture office in Caracas. Russell Baker's son Donald moved to Caracas to launch the satellite office. Within the next three years, offices were opened in Washington, D.C., Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, New York and São Paulo.