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Baker McKenzie history
Baker McKenzie company history timeline
In 1949 Baker found a new partner in litigator John McKenzie; they started Baker & McKenzie, which began as a four-lawyer operation.
In 1949, he teamed up with John McKenzie, a trial lawyer he had met in a taxi a few years earlier, to form Baker & McKenzie.
The Firm was established in 1949, decades before the concept of “globablization” emerged.
In 1955, a Venezuelan lawyer contacted Baker to explore the possibility of setting up a joint venture to handle United States business interests in Caracas, prompting the establishment of Baker & McKenzie's first foreign office.
In 1957, offices were opened in Washington, Brussels, and Amsterdam.
Baker & McKenzie is preparing itself for the increased competition under the guidance of the chairman of the executive committee John McGuigan, an Australian, who joined Baker & McKenzie in 1973 and had served most recently as managing partner at the firm’s Hong Kong office.
A Hong Kong office was established in 1974, and among others, offices were opened in Bangkok and Taipei three years later.
By 1978 Baker & McKenzie had 26 offices in 20 countries.
Baker, Russell, History of Baker & McKenzie, Chicago: Baker & McKenzie, 1978.
The office opened in 1979 in Bogotá, Colombia, was a rare exception.
Doser was succeeded as chairman in 1981 by Thomas Bridgman, a litigator from the firm’s Chicago home base.
By 1985, Baker & McKenzie’s lawyer count was at 752 and growing.
It opened offices along the United States-Mexican border in 1986 to take advantage of the industrial boom taking place there.
In one of the earliest AIDS discrimination cases in the United States, Bowers had argued that his firing by the company in 1986 was due to his illness rather than his performance, as was claimed by the firm.
Western Europe was not ignored either, and an office was established in Barcelona in 1988.
In 1989 Baker & McKenzie attorneys opened associated offices in Seoul, Korea and Jakarta, Indonesia.
Many of the firm's foreign offices were generating a substantial share of their own business by 1992.
For 1992, Baker & McKenzie reported revenue of $503.5 million, moving the firm past Skadden, Arps into first place among law firms.
“On the Way to Becoming the Dominant Provider of Legal Services,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, October 15, 1993.
And at the end of 1993, Baker & McKenzie was ordered by the New York State Division of Human Rights to pay $500,000 in compensatory damages and back pay to the estate of Geoffrey Bowers.
In 1993, new offices were established in Prague and Beijing, reflecting the firm’s ongoing emphasis on Asia and Eastern Europe.
In November 1998 the American Lawyer in cooperation with London’s Legal Times published its first survey of the world’s largest law firms.
In 1999 Christine Lagarde became the first woman to lead Baker & McKenzie and one of the first women, for that matter, to lead any major United States law firm.
On December 21, 2000, Privatisation International named the firm the Privatisation Legal Team of the Year. For example, in 2000 it represented Alcoa Inc. in its acquisition of British Aluminum.
Baker & Mckenzie was Mexico’s largest law firm, with 120 lawyers practicing in five offices in 2000.
In March 2001 the firm announced it was to be the exclusive legal sponsor of MainEvent 2001, the world’s largest global satellite telecast for businessmen and women.
In early 2001 it acquired the Spanish law firm of Briones Alonso y Martin.
"Baker & McKenzie ." International Directory of Company Histories. . Encyclopedia.com. (June 23, 2022). https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/baker-mckenzie-0
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Baker McKenzie competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jones Day | 1893 | $2.1B | 6,097 | - |
| White & Case | 1901 | $1.8B | 3,662 | 47 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | 1919 | $6.6M | 50 | - |
| Clifford Chance | 1987 | $2.1B | 6,700 | 32 |
| Baker Botts | 1840 | $280.0M | 1,582 | 8 |
| BakerHostetler | 1916 | $732.0M | 1,771 | 24 |
| Latham & Watkins | 1934 | $4.3B | 3,000 | 68 |
| K&L Gates | 1946 | $990.0M | 3,000 | - |
| Sidley Austin | 1866 | $2.5B | 50 | 83 |
| Winston & Strawn | 1853 | $985.0M | 2,000 | 2 |
Baker McKenzie history FAQs
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Baker McKenzie may also be known as or be related to Baker & McKenzie, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Baker & Mckenzie and Baker McKenzie.