Brown Rudnick LLP

General information

With relentless focus on our clients' objectives, we offer a broad slate of capabilities and talents in areas that include Corporate & Transactional, Funds, Securities, Tax, Patents & Intellectual Property, Emerging Technologies, Cleantech & Energy, Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring, Finance, Complex Litigation, White Collar Defense & Government Investigations, Real Estate, Government Contracts
, Health Care and Government Law & Strategies. We assemble cross-disciplinary teams to suit clients' needs. And we bring our perspective and experience to an array of industries.

Our clients include public and private corporations, multinational Fortune 100 businesses and start-up enterprises. We also represent investors, as well as official ad hoc creditors committees in today's largest corporate restructurings, both domestically and abroad.

Firm History

In 1948, Rome, Brown, Rudnick & Freed was founded in Boston by several prominent attorneys: Charles Rome; Matthew Brown; Alford Rudnick; and Hirsh Freed. From inception, the firm had strong connections to government and, over the years, many partners (including Charles Rome) left the firm for appointed judgeships. The firm grew rapidly, developing a broad array of commercial and personal legal services, all the while continuing its close connection to government affairs. Expanding further into the New England legal market, the firm opened offices in Connecticut and Rhode Island, adding high-ranking officials from the state legislatures and Governor’s office. By the late 1990’s, Brown Rudnick Freed & Gesmer (as it was then known) had grown into one of the largest and most successful law firms in Boston and throughout New England. In 2001, the firm founded the Brown Rudnick Center for the Public Interest and the Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation with substantial fees earned from its successful prosecution of claims against the Tobacco Industry on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In 1946, Berlack & Israels was founded in New York City by Harris Berlack and Carlos Israels. Mr. Berlack was a preeminent corporate and securities lawyer who, among other things, helped author the Investment Company of Act of 1940. Mr. Israels was a professor at Columbia Law School, widely-regarded scholar in the area of corporate and securities law, and a leading author of Article 8 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Among his many influential books and articles, “Israel’s on Corporate Practice” was for decades considered an indispensable legal treatise. Several years later, James Liberman joined the firm, which was then renamed Berlack, Israels & Liberman. Prior to and after joining the firm, Mr. Liberman served as General Counsel to General Public Utilities, a public holding company for, among other large energy-related businesses, Jersey Central Power & Light, Metropolitan Edison, and the Pennsylvania Energy Company. In that capacity, Mr. Liberman had chief responsibility for all legal issues emanating from the 1979 accident at GPU’s nuclear plant at Three Mile Island. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s, the firm developed a leadership position in the rapidly-developing area of complex corporate restructuring under Chapter 11.

In 2002, Brown Rudnick Freed & Gesmer merged with Berlack Israels & Liberman, with the combined firm named Brown Rudnick LLP. This is widely-considered one of the rare law firm merger “success-stories,” with full and easy partner/practice integration, and rapidly realized profits from practice synergies. Firm management was then entrusted in a Management Committee comprised of senior partners from various practice disciplines and offices.

In the subsequent ten years, Brown Rudnick has methodically grown as a law firm and as a business enterprise, adding offices in Washington, D.C. and Dublin, Ireland. Over the last two years, we have dramatically increased the size of our London office, originally founded fifteen years ago, doubling both the office space and number of attorneys (now more than 40). Our D.C. expansion has included the addition of reknowned attorneys in the corporate, government litigation, and “white-collar” defense practice areas, as well as veteran Capitol Hill lobbyists. Our business plan envisions continued growth following our historical trends and business-conservative values.

Office Locations:

Boston
One Financial Center
Boston, MA 02111

Dublin
Alexandra House
The Sweepstakes
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4
Ireland

Hartford
185 Asylum Street
Hartford, CT 06103

London
8 Clifford Street
London W1S 2LQ
United Kingdom

New York
Seven Times Square
New York, NY 10036

Providence
10 Memorial Boulevard
Providence, RI 02903

Washington, DC
601 Thirteenth Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005