Locke, Liddell & Sapp
Encyclopedia
Locke Lord LLP is an American law firm
of approximately 650 attorneys with 11 domestic and two overseas offices. Locke Lord was formed on October 2, 2007, after the combination of Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp PLLC and Lord Bissell & Brook LLP, a national law firm headquartered in Chicago. The firm changed its name from Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP to Locke Lord LLP on September 27, 2011.
Legacy Locke Liddell & Sapp was known for its work in the real estate investment trust and energy sectors.
, Harold L. Ickes
, and John Lord—formed a Chicago law practice. In 1924, John Lord left that firm to open a Chicago predecessor firm by the name of Lord, Wire & Cobb. Cushman Bissell, Sr. joined Lord’s firm in 1931 as a named partner. In 1954, Herbert Brook became a named partner and the firm’s name changed from Lord Lloyd & Bissell to its legacy name—Lord Bissell & Brook. The firm would operate under that name until its 2007 merger with Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp.
Legacy Lord Bissell & Brook was known for its work in insurance and reinsurance litigation, particularly in the Chicago market. The firm was known as an “insurer-side firm” that tended to represent insurance companies and not individual policy holders.
Law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to represent clients in civil or criminal cases, business transactions, and other...
of approximately 650 attorneys with 11 domestic and two overseas offices. Locke Lord was formed on October 2, 2007, after the combination of Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp PLLC and Lord Bissell & Brook LLP, a national law firm headquartered in Chicago. The firm changed its name from Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP to Locke Lord LLP on September 27, 2011.
Legacy Locke Liddell & Sapp
The oldest component of Locke Lord traces back through the legacy Locke Liddell & Sapp side to a firm founded in Dallas, Texas by Maurice Locke in 1891. It is the second oldest continuously operating firm in Dallas. The firm became Locke & Locke when Maurice Locke's sons ran the practice, and his grandsons renamed it Locke Purnell. In 1916, another predecessor firm, Huggins & Kayser, began developing independently in Houston, Texas. Frank Liddell, known as an outstanding trial lawyer, became a partner in the Houston-based Huggins & Kayser firm in 1921. Charles Sapp then joined the predecessor Houston firm in 1946. Back in Dallas, six young attorneys spun out of the oldest firm in Dallas and formed another predecessor firm in 1965 under the name Rain Harrell & Emery. In 1987, Maurice Locke’s original Dallas firm and the newer Rain Harrell Emery Young & Doke firm merged to create one of the then-largest law firms in the Southwest: Locke Purnell Rain Harrell. In 1999, the Dallas firm Locke Purnell Rain Harrell merged with the Houston firm of Liddell Sapp Zivley Hill & LaBoon to form Locke Liddell & Sapp. At the time, this was the largest law firm merger in United States legal history. Locke Liddell & Sapp continued to exist until the 2007 national merger with Chicago-based Lord Bissell & Brook.Legacy Locke Liddell & Sapp was known for its work in the real estate investment trust and energy sectors.
Legacy Lord Bissell & Brook
Legacy Lord Bissell & Brook began in 1914 when three lawyers—Donald RichbergDonald Richberg
Donald Randall Richberg was an American attorney, civil servant, and author who was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's key aides and who played a critical role in the New Deal. He co-wrote the National Industrial Recovery Act, was general counsel and executive director of the National...
, Harold L. Ickes
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
, and John Lord—formed a Chicago law practice. In 1924, John Lord left that firm to open a Chicago predecessor firm by the name of Lord, Wire & Cobb. Cushman Bissell, Sr. joined Lord’s firm in 1931 as a named partner. In 1954, Herbert Brook became a named partner and the firm’s name changed from Lord Lloyd & Bissell to its legacy name—Lord Bissell & Brook. The firm would operate under that name until its 2007 merger with Texas-based Locke Liddell & Sapp.
Legacy Lord Bissell & Brook was known for its work in insurance and reinsurance litigation, particularly in the Chicago market. The firm was known as an “insurer-side firm” that tended to represent insurance companies and not individual policy holders.
Merger of Legacy Firms
In May 2007, management of each firm first proposed that Legacy Locke Liddell & Sapp and Legacy Lord Bissell & Brook merge into one national firm. On September 12, 2007, the partnership of each firm approved the merger, to be effective October 2, 2007. Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP gross revenues and size place it within The American Lawyer’s “AmLaw 100” annual rankings of the top United States law firms.Practice Areas
Locke Lord is a general practice or full-service law firm, which means that it provides services in virtually all legal matters. The firm's core practice groups include:- Regulatory and Administrative LawAdministrative lawAdministrative law is the body of law that governs the activities of administrative agencies of government. Government agency action can include rulemaking, adjudication, or the enforcement of a specific regulatory agenda. Administrative law is considered a branch of public law...
- Admiralty and Maritime Law
- Antitrust Law
- Appellate Litigation
- Aviation LawAviation lawAviation law is the branch of law that concerns flight, air travel, and associated legal and business concerns. Some of its area of concern overlaps that of admiralty law and in many cases, aviation law is considered a matter of international law due to the nature of air travel. However, the...
- Bank Regulatory and Transactional Law
- Banking and Financial Institutions Litigation
- BankruptcyBankruptcyBankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and RestructuringRestructuringRestructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs... - Business Litigation and Arbitration
- Construction LawConstruction lawConstruction law is a body of law that deals with matters relating to building construction and related fields. It covers a wide range of legal issues including contract law, bonds and bonding, guarantees and sureties, liens and other security interests, tendering, construction claims, and related...
- Corporate LawCorporate lawCorporate law is the study of how shareholders, directors, employees, creditors, and other stakeholders such as consumers, the community and the environment interact with one another. Corporate law is a part of a broader companies law...
and Transactional Law - Direct Insurance and ReinsuranceReinsuranceReinsurance is insurance that is purchased by an insurance company from another insurance company as a means of risk management...
Law - Employment and Labour lawLabour lawLabour law is the body of laws, administrative rulings, and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on, working people and their organizations. As such, it mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions, employers and employees...
- Energy lawEnergy lawEnergy laws govern the use and taxation of energy, both renewable and non-renewable. These laws are the primary authorities related to energy...
- Environmental LawEnvironmental lawEnvironmental law is a complex and interlocking body of treaties, conventions, statutes, regulations, and common law that operates to regulate the interaction of humanity and the natural environment, toward the purpose of reducing the impacts of human activity...
- Health LawHealth lawHealth Law is the federal, state, and local law, rules, regulations and other jurisprudence affecting the health care industry and their application to health care patients, providers and payors, and vendors to the health care industry, including without limitation the relationships among...
- Intellectual PropertyIntellectual propertyIntellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
- Public LawPublic lawPublic law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
and Governmental Affairs - Real Estate and Finance
- Real Estate Investment TrustReal estate investment trustA real estate investment trust or REIT is a tax designation for a corporate entity investing in real estate. The purpose of this designation is to reduce or eliminate corporate tax. In return, REITs are required to distribute 90% of their taxable income into the hands of investors...
- Securities
- Tax LawTax lawTax law is the codified system of laws that describes government levies on economic transactions, commonly called taxes.-Major issues:Primary taxation issues facing the governments world over include;* taxes on income and wealth...
- White-collar crimeWhite-collar crimeWithin the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
Defense
Intellectual Property Expansion
In February 2009, Locke Lord announced it would more than double the size of its New York office via recruiting some 30 attorneys from the intellectual property boutique law firm Morgan & Finnegan, which dissolved. The firm also launched an office in San Francisco with attorneys from Morgan & Finnegan. In New York, Locke Lord took on the Morgan & Finnegan lease.Offices
Atlanta (1983)- AustinAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
(1974) - ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(1914) - Dallas (1891)
Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
(2011)- Houston (1916)
LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(1987)- Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(1978) - New Orleans (1990)
- New York (1996)
- SacramentoSacramentoSacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
(2005) - San Francisco (2009)
- Washington, D.C (2006)