Dorsey & Whitney
Encyclopedia
Dorsey & Whitney LLP is a large law firm, with close to 600 lawyers and 650 staff located in 19 offices in the United States
, Canada
, Europe
, and Asia
. Its headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota
, and has been since its inception. Dorsey is currently led by its managing partner, Marianne D. Short. Its lawyers have included several prominent public figures, such as former U.S. Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun
, former Vice President
Walter Mondale
(who still works there actively), former Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack
, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
. It also included legal scholar William Prosser
, author of the most important legal textbook in American tort law, Prosser On Torts.
Dorsey has offices in (first-year associate salaries where available):
, a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court
. The following year, they hired James Dorsey as their first associate. Dorsey left the firm in the 1920s to become an investment banker, but returned to the firm a few years after the 1929 stock market crash
. Dorsey led the firm until his death in 1959. The name of the firm continued to change for most of its history, until it was shortened into its current, permanent name in 1981. Dorsey continues to build on its traditional strengths in corporate law and litigation through a wide range of practice groups.
The firm has also endowed the Dorsey and Whitney Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota
Law School.
Other key clients:
petition for the six Bahraini citizens
held in extrajudicial detention
in the United States
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
.
Juma al Dossari, one of Colangelo-Bryan's clients, made a suicide attempt during Colangelo-Bryan's visit.
Charles "Cully" Stimson
, then
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo captives:
"corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists."
Stimson's views were widely criticized. The Pentagon disavowed them and he resigned shortly thereafter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Its headquarters is in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, and has been since its inception. Dorsey is currently led by its managing partner, Marianne D. Short. Its lawyers have included several prominent public figures, such as former U.S. Supreme Court justice Harry Blackmun
Harry Blackmun
Harold Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade.- Early years and professional career :...
, former Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
(who still works there actively), former Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack
Tom Vilsack
Thomas James "Tom" Vilsack is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and presently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002...
, and U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar is the senior United States Senator from Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, an affiliate of the Democratic Party...
. It also included legal scholar William Prosser
William Prosser
William Lloyd Prosser was the Dean of the College of Law at UC Berkeley from 1948 to 1961. Prosser authored several editions of Prosser on Torts, universally recognized as the leading work on the subject of tort law for a generation. It is still widely used today, now known as Prosser and Keeton...
, author of the most important legal textbook in American tort law, Prosser On Torts.
Size
Dorsey has close to 700 attorneys and 850 support staff in 19 offices worldwide.Dorsey has offices in (first-year associate salaries where available):
USA
- MinneapolisMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
($110,000) - New YorkNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
($145,000) - SeattleSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
, Washington ($120,000) - DenverDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
($110,000) - Southern CaliforniaSouthern CaliforniaSouthern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
($145,000) - Palo AltoPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
, CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
($145,000) - Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
- WilmingtonWilmington, DelawareWilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
, DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania... - AnchorageAnchorage, AlaskaAnchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
, AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait... - Des MoinesDes Moines, IowaDes Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
, IowaIowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New... - FargoFargo, North DakotaFargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
, North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S.... - MissoulaMissoula, MontanaMissoula is a city located in western Montana and is the county seat of Missoula County. The 2010 Census put the population of Missoula at 66,788 and the population of Missoula County at 109,299. Missoula is the principal city of the Missoula Metropolitan Area...
, MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,... - Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City, UtahSalt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
($110,000)
Closed offices
Former firm offices no longer in operation include:- Billings, Montana, United StatesBillings, MontanaBillings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, and is the principal city of the Billings Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in over...
- Great Falls, Montana, United StatesGreat Falls, MontanaGreat Falls is a city in and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, United States. The population was 58,505 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Great Falls, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cascade County...
- San Francisco, California, United StatesSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
- Northern VirginiaNorthern VirginiaNorthern Virginia consists of several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C...
- BrusselsBrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many... - ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... - TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south... - CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
History
Dorsey was founded in 1912 by William Lancaster, a director of First National Bank of Minneapolis (now part of U.S. Bank), and David SimpsonDavid Simpson
David Simpson is a Democratic Unionist politician and proponent of intelligent design in the United Kingdom.-Early life:...
, a judge on the Minnesota Supreme Court
Minnesota Supreme Court
The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota and consists of seven members. The court was first assembled as a three-judge panel in 1849 when Minnesota was still a territory. The first members were lawyers from outside of the region who were appointed by...
. The following year, they hired James Dorsey as their first associate. Dorsey left the firm in the 1920s to become an investment banker, but returned to the firm a few years after the 1929 stock market crash
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
. Dorsey led the firm until his death in 1959. The name of the firm continued to change for most of its history, until it was shortened into its current, permanent name in 1981. Dorsey continues to build on its traditional strengths in corporate law and litigation through a wide range of practice groups.
The firm has also endowed the Dorsey and Whitney Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
Law School.
Recognition and Rankings
- Dorsey earned high rankings in a variety of practice areas from Chambers USA, Chambers UK, and Chambers Global. Based on thousands of client interviews worldwide, Chambers ranks law attorneys according qualities most valued by clients. Nationally, Dorsey was ranked in the top tier for Native American Law. Dorsey's Minnesota office ranked in the top tier of Corporate, Labor & Employment, Litigation (General and Intellectual Property), and Real Estate categories. In the UK, Dorsey is ranked among the "Best of the UK" in Tax and Corporate, and is highly ranked in Civil Fraud, Litigation, and Dispute Resolution. Its Seattle office ranked in the top tier for Intellectual Property, the fourth tier for Corporate, and the third tier for Litigation in Washington. Its Salt Lake City office ranked in the third tier for Corporate in Utah. Dorsey ranked in the top tier for Corporate, Environmental, Natural Resources, & Rgulated Industries, Labor & Employment, Litigation, and Real Estate in Alaska; the second tier for Corporate in Montana; the top tier for Labor & Employment, and the second tier for Corporate and Litigation in North Dakota.
- Dorsey ranked 7th nationwide in securities litigation cases taken on in 2006.
- Dorsey has completed more merger and acquisition (M&A) dealsMergers and acquisitionsMergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
in the last 10 years than any other law firm, according to Mergers and Acquisitions: The Dealmakers Journal. - In 2006, Dorsey ranked 3rd among law firms for the number of U.S. M&A deals completed, 9th for the number of global M&A deals completed, and 8th for the number of Canadian M&A deals completed, according to Thomson Financial.
- In 2008, for the 8th consecutive year, Corporate Board Member Magazine named Dorsey as the best corporate law firm in Minneapolis. The magazine bases its rankings on an annual research study which surveys public company corporate officers, directors and in-house attorneys.
- Eight Dorsey partners, including one retired judge, are members of the American College of Trial LawyersAmerican College of Trial LawyersThe American College of Trial Lawyers is a professional association of trial lawyers from the United States and Canada. Founded in 1950, the College is dedicated to maintaining and improving the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the profession...
(ACTL). Membership in the ACTL is by invitation only and is limited to only 1% of total lawyers per state or Canadian province. - The Dorsey UK tax department was named 2006 “Tax Team of the Year” by Legal Business magazine for a landmark victory in a case before the European Court of Justice.
- In 2007, Dorsey received the perfect rating of 100% on the Human Rights CampaignHuman Rights CampaignThe Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
(HRC) fifth annual Corporate Equality Index. The index measures employer performance in ensuring fair and open workplaces for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees and consumers. - In 2007, Dorsey was named as one of the nation's 50 "Best Law Firms for Women" by Working Mother Magazine.
- According to the BTI Client Service A-Team 2008, Dorsey is the only Twin Cities firm among the Top 30, coming in at 11. Dorsey also ranked "Best of the Best" in advising about business issues.
- In 2008, for the second consecutive year, Dorsey was named a Minnesota Work-Life Champion.
Key Clients
According to Corporate Counsel, Dorsey has been identified as the Go-To firm for the following Top 500 companies:- 3M3M3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....
(Labor, Litigation) - C.H. Robinson Worldwide (Corporate Transactions, International, Labor, Litigation, Securities)
- Charter CommunicationsCharter CommunicationsCharter Communications is an American company providing cable television, high-speed Internet, and telephone services to more than 4.7 million customers in 25 states. By revenues, it is the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, behind Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications...
(Labor) - CHS (Corporate Transactions, Securities)
- DanaDana-Singers:Some singers are popularly known only by the name, Dana:* Dana Rosemary Scallon , Irish-American singer and politician* Dana , Korean pop singer* Dana International , Israeli pop singer-In fiction:...
(Corporate Transactions) - General MillsGeneral MillsGeneral Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
(Corporate Transactions, International) - Hormel Foods (Litigation)
- MosaicMosaicMosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
(Corporate Transactions, Labor, Securities) - SuperValuSuperValuSuperValu or Supervalu is a name used by grocery chains in multiple countries:* SuperValu * SuperValu * SuperValu * See also SuperValue, supervalue...
(Litigation) - UnitedHealth GroupUnitedHealth GroupUnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a diversified health and "well-being" company. Headquartered in Minnetonka, Minnesota, UnitedHealth Group offers a spectrum of products and services through two operating businesses: United Healthcare and Optum. Through its family of subsidiaries and divisions,...
(Labor, Securities) - Wells FargoWells FargoWells Fargo & Company is an American multinational diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by assets and the largest bank by market capitalization. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home...
(Labor) - Xcel EnergyXcel EnergyXcel Energy, Inc. is a public utility company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving customers in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. Primary services are electricity and natural gas...
(Labor)
Other key clients:
- ADC TelecommunicationsADC TelecommunicationsADC Telecommunications was a communications company located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a southwest suburb of Minneapolis. It was acquired by TE Connectivity in December 2010 and now ceases to exist as a separate entity...
- Canon
- CiscoCiscoCisco may refer to:Companies:*Cisco Systems, a computer networking company* Certis CISCO, corporatised entity of the former Commercial and Industrial Security Corporation in Singapore...
- Fair IsaacFair IsaacFair Isaac Corporation is a public company that provides analytics and decision making services—including credit scoring—intended to help financial services companies make complex, high-volume decisions.- History :...
- HSBCHSBCHSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...
- Marks & SpencerMarks & SpencerMarks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
- Mayo ClinicMayo ClinicMayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
- Northwest AirlinesNorthwest AirlinesNorthwest Airlines, Inc. was a major United States airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines by a merger approved on October 29, 2008, making Delta the largest airline in the world...
- USBancorp
Assistance to Guantanamo captives
Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, an attorney with Dorsey & Whitney prepared the habeas corpusHabeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
petition for the six Bahraini citizens
Bahraini captives in Guantanamo
The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding six Bahraini detainees in Guantanamo.A total of 778 captives have been held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002...
held in extrajudicial detention
Extrajudicial detention
Arbitrary or extrajudicial detention is the detention of individuals by a state, without ever laying formal charges against them.Although it has a long history of legitimate use in wartime , detention without charge, sometimes in secret, has been one of the hallmarks of totalitarian states...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
Juma al Dossari, one of Colangelo-Bryan's clients, made a suicide attempt during Colangelo-Bryan's visit.
Charles "Cully" Stimson
Charles Stimson
Charles Douglas "Cully" Stimson is a former American political appointee at the Pentagon. Stimson was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs...
, then
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, stirred controversy when he went on record criticizing the patriotism of law firms that allowed employees to assist Guantanamo captives:
"corporate CEOs seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists."
Stimson's views were widely criticized. The Pentagon disavowed them and he resigned shortly thereafter.