Blank Rome (formerly known as Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley
/ref>) is a law firm with 16 offices and more than 750 attorneys and principals who provide legal and advocacy services to clients in the United States and around the world.
Founded in 1946, Blank Rome represents a broad range of clients across a spectrum of industries. The firm has 16 offices in the United States and expanded internationally in May 2011 by opening a Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
Representative Office in the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. In 2003, the firm established Blank Rome Government Relations LLC in Washington, D.C., a wholly owned subsidiary and government affairs firm that provides strategic lobbying, advocacy, and communications counsel.
History
Blank Rome was founded in 1946 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and has since expanded its geographic footprint across the United States. The following combinations and additions have occurred:
* 1959: Brumbelow & Comisky, Philadelphia
* 1961: Newman & Master, Philadelphia
* 1984: Wexler Weisman Forman & Shapiro, Philadelphia
* 1998: Wigman, Cohen, Leitner & Myers, Washington, D.C.
* 2000: Tenzer Greenblatt, New York
* 2003: Dyer Ellis & Joseph, Washington, D.C.
* 2005: Shack Siegel Katz & Flaherty, New York
* 2006: Healy & Baillie, New York
* 2011: Abrams Scott & Bickley, LLP, Houston
* 2012: Janis, Schuelke & Wechsler, Washington, D.C.
* 2013: Bell, Ryniker & Letourneau, Houston
* 2014: Finestone & Richter and Margolis & Tisman LLP, Los Angeles and San Francisco
* 2015: Wong Cabello, Houston
* 2016: Dickstein Shapiro LLP, Washington, D.C.; Phillips Lerner, Los Angeles
* 2017: Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP, Los Angeles
* 2019: Buter, Buzard, Fishbein & Royce LLP, Los Angeles; four-partner group from Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, Chicago
Additionally, in 2003, the Firm established Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary and government affairs firm in Washington, D.C.
Practice areas
Blank Rome's practice areas include commercial and corporate litigation; class action defense, financial institutions litigation, and regulatory compliance (FILARC); corporate, M&A, and securities; cross border/international, energy, environmental, and mass torts; finance, restructuring, and bankruptcy; government contracts; government relations and political law; insurance recovery; intellectual property and technology; intellectual property litigation; labor and employment; maritime and international trade; matrimonial and family law; real estate; tax, benefits, and private client; and white collar defense and investigations.
Key industry areas include aerospace, defense and government services, aviation, chemical, energy, finance and restructuring, financial services, gaming and entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, investment management, life sciences, maritime, private equity and investment funds, real estate, technology, and transportation.
Blank Rome Government Relations LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary and government affairs firm. Key services include Advocacy, Congressional Oversight and Investigations, Government Business, Government Ethics & Compliance, and Legislation & Regulation.
Pro Bono Activities
Notable pro bono work includes:
* Assisting Afghan refugees seeking Humanitarian Parole in the United States, in addition to helping with expedited Afghan asylum cases
* Partnering with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights to organize and staff a nonpartisan election protection hotline for voters in the 2022 mid-term elections
* Working to assist transgender clients with legal name and gender marker changes
* Helping refugees to take their next step toward citizenship by applying for Green Cards
* Working with veterans seeking to upgrade their military discharge status
* Assisting small businesses and nonprofit organizations with corporate, real estate, tax, and intellectual property issues
Notable lawyers and alumni
* Edward Cahn, former chief United States district judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, serves as counsel in Blank Rome's Philadelphia office.
* Steve Castor
* Marvin Comisky, former chairman emeritus of Blank Rome and former head of the Philadelphia and state bar associations
*Barbara Comstock
Barbara Jean Comstock (née Burns; born June 30, 1959) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was a member o ...
, American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
for Virginia's 10th congressional district
Virginia's 10th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Situated in the suburbs and exurbs of Northern Virginia, the district includes the entireties of Loudoun, Fauquier, and Rappahannock c ...
from 2015 to 2019.
*Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne Ferraro (August 26, 1935 March 26, 2011) was an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. She served in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice presiden ...
, former congresswoman and Vice-Presidential candidate, previously served as a principal at Blank Rome Government Relations LLC.
* James Giles, former chief judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, serves as counsel in Blank Rome's Philadelphia office.
* David F. Girard-diCarlo, former chairman of the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, elected co-chair and managing partner in 1988, reelected five times, serving until 2000; also appointed as the CEO of subsidiary Blank Rome Government Relations LLC, the lobbying branch of the law firm based in Washington, D.C.; served as the U.S. ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
from July 2008 to January 2009.
* Keith Gottfried, former general counsel
A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department.
In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...
to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the secretary of housing and u ...
and a senior official in the administration of President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
, was a partner in Blank Rome's Washington, D.C., office.
* Nathaniel R. Jones, former judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in case citations, 6th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:
* Eastern District of Kentucky
* Western District of K ...
and former general counsel to the NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
, previously served as the Firm's inaugural Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer.
* Frederica Massiah-Jackson, Philadelphia County
Philadelphia County is the most populous of the 67 counties of Pennsylvania and the 24th-most populous county in the nation. As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 1,603,797. It is coextensive with Philadelphia, the nation's ...
Court of Common Pleas judge, worked at the law firm before her election to the bench in 1983.
* David A. Norcross, former chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee and executive assistant to New Jersey Governor
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...
William T. Cahill, was a partner in Blank Rome's Philadelphia office.
* Stephen Orlofsky, former judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (in case citations, D.N.J.) is a federal court in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Third Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. gover ...
, is the chair of Blank Rome's Princeton office and leads the Firm's appellate
In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
practice.
* Gil Stein, former president and general counsel to the National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
, worked at the law firm before becoming an executive with the Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...
in 1976.
References
External links
Blank Rome's firm profile
from Chambers & Partners
{{Portal bar, Law, United States, China
Law firms based in Philadelphia
Lobbying firms
Law firms established in 1946
1946 establishments in Pennsylvania