Proskauer Rose LLP (formerly known as Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn, LLP) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Proskauer was founded in 1875 and currently employs more than 800 attorneys in eleven offices worldwide.
Proskauer is known for its litigation, labor & employment, corporate, private equity, private investment funds, finance, and intellectual property law departments. Proskauer has long been the primary outside law firm for the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL).
History
Throughout its history, the firm's headquarters has been located in the area of Times Square, in midtown Manhattan, where it grew from fewer than a dozen lawyers originally to nearly 800. A full-service practice, it is currently among the ten largest law firms in New York City.
William R. Rose started the firm that is now Proskauer when, at 21 years of age, he opened a law firm on Broadway in Downtown Manhattan in 1875.[1] In 1907, Rose promoted associate Benjamin Paskus to partner and renamed the firm Rose & Paskus.[1] Rose & Paskus was one of the first firms to develop a specialized tax practice after the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913.[1] In 1930, Judge Joseph M. Proskauer resigned his position on New York's Appellate Division to join the firm, which was then renamed Proskauer, Rose & Paskus.[1] The firm shortened its name to Proskauer Rose in 1997.[2]
Proskauer is not known as a traditional "white shoe" law firm, though over the past quarter-century it has gained the reputation as one of the "new white shoe" law firms.[3] Thus it cannot rely on long-standing ties to old money or big investment banks. Rather, the firm has historically focused its practice on labor and employment law, as well as building up significant litigation, private capital, health care, sports and entertainment, bankruptcy, and taxation practices.[2]
In February 2012, Proskauer increased its gross revenue by 6.4 percent to $686 million and its average profits per partner 9 percent to $1.7 million, according to The American Lawyer's reporting.[4] In 2013, Proskauer again increased its revenue by more than 7%, to over $700 million. These figures place Proskauer as one of the fastest growing law firms in the United States. The firm's robust financial performance came amid a busy year for office moves. The most significant shuffle saw Proskauer move its New York headquarters to 11 Times Square in January, 2011. With more than 400,000 square feet of space spread across 14 floors, the firm is the new building's anchor tenant—with its name splashed across the facade in a 40-foot-by-10-foot backlit sign. Proskauer saw gross revenue of $1.23 billion in 2023, up from $990 million in 2020.[5]
Pro bono
In 2012, Proskauer argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling that the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA), which reduced the disparity in federal sentencing between crack and powder cocaine offenses, applies to defendants who were sentenced after its passage even though their offenses pre-dated the law. The firm is also noted for hosting an Election Protection call center during every election cycle since the 2012 Presidential election.[6]
In 2010, Proskauer received the Law Firm Pro Bono Award at the William O. Douglas Award Dinner in Los Angeles, sponsored by Public Counsel, the United States' largest pro bono public interest law firm.[7]
According to a study by Yale Law Women (co-sponsored by women's law groups at Stanford, Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Berkeley, Northwestern, and Virginia), Proskauer Rose ranked second in their list of top ten family-friendly firms of 2007.[9]
In 2007, Proskauer Rose was named among the top United States firms practicing corporate and finance law in The Legal 500 US Volume I: Corporate & Finance, a ranking of the "best of the best" U.S. law firms. Proskauer was named a leader in the following categories: Private Equity; International Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Markets; Investment Funds - Alternative/Hedge Fund Formation.[10]
In 2008, Proskauer was named the fastest-growing law firm for the third consecutive year in Boston Business Journal's annual ranking of the area's 100 largest law firms. With the addition of 25 lawyers since January 2007 - a 30-percent growth rate - the firm is ranked 17th in the year' survey.[11]
Fifteen lawyers from Proskauer Rose were named in Southern California Super Lawyers 2008, an annual guide to the top lawyers in the region (the firm was represented in 10 different practice areas).[12] Selections for Southern California Super Lawyers are based on peer nominations and independent research by the editors of Law & Politics magazine.[12]
In 2022, Proskauer Rose was the winner of the 18th British Private Equity Award and awarded 'Law Firm of the Year for Structuring'.[13]
Notable clients and cases
Proskauer Rose represented Silverstein Properties, owner of the World Trade Center towers in New York that were destroyed by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, in a dispute with its insurers.[14]
The firm won a copyright case in 2006 when they represented the rock band The White Stripes against a former producer regarding the ownership rights in the band's first two albums.[15]
In 2015, Last Week Tonight host John Oliver employed the firm to purchase a $9.5million Manhattan penthouse using several shell companies set up on his behalf by the firm, taking advantage of a tax loophole called 421-a to reduce his property tax bill by as much as $300,000.[19][20]
In 2017, Proskauer Rose represented Celgene in its $9 billion acquisition of cancer drug maker Juno Therapeutics.[21]
