Davis Wright Tremaine LLP is an American business and litigation law firm. Founded in 1944, the firm is a

limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...

and employs over 500 lawyers. Davis Wright Tremaine is headquartered in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

, and has offices in seven other cities in the United States.

History

Davis Wright Tremaine was founded in Seattle, Washington, in 1944. In 1944, founder John Davis outlined the "real aims" of the firm in a series of hand-written notes which included financial independence, "good reputation among fellow men, especially for ability and integrity"; and "enough time off to enjoy living." The firm merged with Wright, Simon, Todd & Schmechel in 1969. In the 1980s, the firm opened offices in Anchorage, Alaska;

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

;

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area and has variously been characterized as ...

; and

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It merged with Ragen, Tremaine, Krieger of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, in 1990 and added more than 20 lawyers from Heller Ehrman LLP in 2008. In 1993, the Ministry of Justice of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

selected Davis Wright Tremaine to be the first United States firm to open a law office in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. The Shanghai office closed in 2018. Alumni of the firm include Gary Locke, who is the former Governor of Washington state and served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Ambassador to China during the Obama Administration.

Notable cases

The firm served as lead counsel for 30,000 plaintiffs in consolidated proceedings on behalf of fishermen, processors, Alaska natives, landowners, businesses, and others injured as a result of the spill of 11.8 million gallons of North Slope crude oil into the coastal waters of Alaska by the

Exxon Valdez ''Oriental Nicety'', formerly ''Exxon Valdez'', ''Exxon Mediterranean'', ''SeaRiver Mediterranean'', ''S/R Mediterranean'', ''Mediterranean'', and ''Dong Fang Ocean'', was an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince Wi ...

. The plaintiffs were ultimately awarded almost a billion dollars in damages and interest. The firm also successfully represented

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

in its long-running effort to overturn fines imposed by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

over the Janet Jackson's "

wardrobe malfunction A wardrobe malfunction is a clothing failure that accidentally or intentionally exposes a person's intimate parts. It is different from deliberate incidents of indecent exposure or public flashing. Justin Timberlake first used the term when apol ...

" at the

2004 Super Bowl Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) cham ...

Assistance to Guantanamo captives

Charles "Cully" Stimson, then Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo captives: "corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists." Stimson's views were widely criticized; the Pentagon disavowed them, and Stimson resigned shortly thereafter.

2009 Sunwest malpractice suit

In 2009, investors in retirement home operator Sunwest Management Inc. sued Davis Wright Tremaine, alleging that it played a key role in assisting in its running of a $400 million Ponzi scheme. The lawsuit alleged that Davis Wright Tremaine encouraged individuals and businesses to invest in Sunwest, even though they were aware of the company's financial troubles. Davis Wright Tremaine's involvement in the suit was resolved before trial, when the firm agreed to pay a $30 million settlement to the plaintiffs, one of the largest malpractice settlements by a law firm accused of securities wrongdoing in Oregon history. As of Davis Wright Tremaine's settlement, investor claims remained against Sunwest law firms K&L Gates and Thompson & Knight (now part of

Holland & Knight Holland & Knight LLP is an American multinational law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers and other professionals in 35 offices in the United States, Europe, Latin America, and North Africa. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the firm provides repre ...

Accolades

In 2012, Davis Wright was ranked the 96th largest law firm in the United States by the '' National Law Journal,'' based on attorney headcount. The firm was ranked No. 114 by gross revenue on the AmLaw 200 that same year. The firm received Band 1 rankings in the 2016 Chambers USA guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business in 13 practice areas across five states, including Corporate/M&A, Commercial Litigation, Energy, Labor & Employment, Media & Entertainment, and Real Estate. The firm was again high in the rankings for First Amendment Litigation – Nationwide, with more lawyers ranked nationally than any firm in the country. The media practice group is widely recognized as a national leader. The firm's team of 70 media lawyers was honored in 2013 with the Chambers USA Award for Excellence, designating Davis Wright as the firm that "has excelled above all others" in this practice area. In 2012, Davis Wright was named Law Firm of the Year in the Communications practice area by Best Lawyers and U.S. News.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Law firms established in the 20th century Law firms based in Seattle Intellectual property law firms 1944 establishments in Washington (state)