Covington & Burling history

1921: The firm is renamed Covington, Burling & Rublee.

With the help of Covington & Burling, Norway and the shipowners prevailed in arbitration at The Hague, the headquarters of the League of Nations, winning an award of almost $12 million in 1922.

By the end of 1933 the firm consisted of 18 lawyers, including seven partners.

In 1948 it had 57 lawyers and 69 staff workers.

1949: The firm becomes known as Covington, Burling, Rublee, O'Brian & Shorb.

But Nader and Wesley Smith, in their book No Contest: Corporate Lawyers and the Perversion of Justice in America, praised Covington & Burling attorney Charles Horsky for his 1952 book The Washington Lawyer, which outlined the principles of an ethical corporate law practice.

In 1963 it reached 102 lawyers and 162 staff employees.

Meanwhile, in 1971 the firm began representing New Jersey, and later other states, in a conflict over whether or not the federal government should provide states with funds for social services under the Social Security Act.

Mathews (1976), the states, helped by Covington & Burling, won their case in district court.

In 1981, the firm became the first major non-governmental tenant on the Pennsylvania Avenue corridor, moving to a new building at 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Henry Goldberg founded Goldberg, Godles, Wiener & Wright LLP (“G2W2”) in 1983, after a career in private law firms in Washington, D.C. and service as General Counsel of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP). Starting out at Covington & Burling, Mr.

1990: Covington & Burling opens its Brussels office.

They came to help prepare their corporate clients for the EC's effort to create uniform business rules and regulations in its 12 member nations by 1992.

Firm attorney Charles Ruff testified on Microsoft's behalf in 1997 hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The merger with Howard, Smith & Levin was not counted in the American Lawyer's annual ranking of the United States' largest law firms. Thus based on its 1999 gross revenue of $165 million, Covington & Burling was ranked number 79.

During the 2000 electoral disputes in Florida, George W. Bush used lawyers from many leading law firms.

2008 literally and figuratively involved opening new doors.

At the end of 2014, the firm’s Washington office moved to CityCenter, anchoring the first mixed-use development in the heart of downtown.

In 2017, the firm added fully integrated global project finance and development capabilities, which included opening new offices in Dubai and Johannesburg.