Company: Alston & Bird LLP

Founders:

Predecessor firms Alston, Miler & Gaines, and Jones, Bird & Howell

Industry: Law Practice

History:

Alston & Bird is a law firm that provides legal services in areas of practice like labor and employment, bankruptcy, medical products, constructions, legislation, public policy, public finance, trial practice, taxation, trademarks and copyrights, technology, Internet and e-business, and wealth planning among others. The company has its headquarters in Atlanta and local offices in Raleigh, North Carolina; Washington DC; New York City; Charlotte; Dallas; Silicon Valley; Ventura County; and Los Angeles.

They currently are Atlanta’s second biggest law firm and are the 43rd biggest in the US.
Founded in 1893 in Atlanta, Georgia, Alston & Bird started its national expansion when it opened a Washington DC additional local office.

In 1997, the intellectual property focused law firm, Bell Seltzer & Gibson, merged with them to form the additional office in Raleigh and Charlotte, NC. In 2001, another additional local office was opened in New York, NY when Alston & Bird merged with the law firm Walter, Conston, Alexander & Green. In 2007, the firm expanded into Dallas, Texas with its merger with Crews, Shepherd & McCarty LLP.

In August of 2008, with lawyers from the company Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, an establishment in Silicon Valley was opened. The month after that, the firm acquired Weston Benshoof Rochefort Rubalcava & MacCuish LLP and opened an establishment in Ventura County and Los Angeles, making a total of nine offices in the country.

Further, publications for the legal practice field have reported that Alston & Bird will be launching its first overseas liaison office in Germany and London. At present, this Atlanta-based law firm has over 900 attorneys and offers a wide range of services for both national and international clients, making the company the law firm with the most number of attorneys offering legal service worldwide.

Leadership:

Richard Hays, Managing Partner
Ben F. Johnson, Managing Partner