Женнер & Блок: Американдық заң фирмасының тарихы мен жетістіктері

American law firm

Jenner & Block is an American law firm with offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D. C. He later was senior minority counsel on the impeachment inquiry staff for the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon, but was replaced in July 1974 after advocating for the impeachment of Nixon. Jenner & Block was one of the first national law firms to establish a Washington practice specifically focused on appeals before the U. S. Supreme Court. A number of lawyers in the Washington office have served as clerks to the US Supreme Court. This office was once headed by Bruce Ennis, Jr., who argued more than a dozen cases before the Supreme Court, including three cases arising under different provisions of the same law, the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996. The appellate practice was once led by Paul M. Smith. Donald Verrilli Jr., who succeeded Elena Kagan as U. S. solicitor general during the Obama administration, is a former member of the practice. The firm was one of the first large firms in the U. S. to establish a pro bono program. Since its founding, the firm has had 10 names. The name of the firm was changed to Raymond Mayer Jenner & Block in 1964 after Samuel W. Block became a name partner. In 1969, it was shortened to its present form.

The firm has a history of litigating and representation in prominent cases, including several argued before the US Supreme Court. The firm's 1985 antitrust lawsuit of AT&T, on behalf of MCI, sowed the seeds for the eventual break up of telecommunications monopoly in the 1980s. The firm's involvement in civil rights cases spans decades. In the 1960s, the firm represented prominent Chicago cardiologist Jeremiah Stamler when he was subpoenaed to testify before the House Committee on Un American Activities. The firm sued the Committee, seeking to have its mandate declared unconstitutional. After eight and a half years of litigation in the 1960s and 70s, the government agreed to drop its indictment against Dr. Stamler for contempt of Congress, and the doctor agreed to drop his civil suit against the Committee. In 1975, Congress officially abolished HUAC, by that time known as the Internal Security Committee. In 2009, then firm chairman Anton R. Valukas was appointed as the examiner in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, and he hired Jenner & Block to produce the report that captured the findings of a year long investigation of the bank's finances. In 2010, the firm oversaw General Motors' $23.1 billion initial public offering of common stock and Series B mandatory convertible junior preferred stock, the largest US IPO ever at the time. The firm has achieved several victories before the US Supreme Court regarding free speech, gay rights, copyright, civil procedure, political asylum and other matters. The firm's first principal litigator, Edward R. Johnston, earned the firm's first Supreme Court victory, a landmark antitrust case against the US government (Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association v. U. S.) that allowed for trade association members to exchange information. The firm represented plaintiff Stephen Law in Law v. Siegel in the US Supreme Court in 2014; it had already been representing the plaintiff Law (who had earlier represented himself) in the US Court of Appeals (Ninth Circuit). The Supreme Court overturned a California court's decision to allow Law's home equity to be used as payment for legal fees to a trustee, even though the equity was protected by the state's homestead exemption.

According to annual surveys by The American Lawyer, in 2014 and 2015, Jenner & Block was the leading law firm for per attorney hours devoted to pro bono work in the US. From 2008 to 2015, it was the leader for five of those seven years. Recent pro bono victories include the acquittal of Jezon Young and the 2012 acquittal of Calvin Marshall who had been charged with murder.

Jenner & Block is headquartered in downtown Chicago. In 1982, the firm opened an office in Washington. In 2005, a New York City office was launched followed by the opening of a Los Angeles office in 2009. In April 2015, the firm opened a London office, its first outside the U. S.