Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

A leading international law firm with 16 offices located in major financial centers around the world, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP has helped shape the globalization of the legal profession for more than 60 years. Our worldwide practice has a proven track record for innovation and providing work of the highest quality to meet the needs of our domestic and international clients. In recognition of the firm’s strong global practice, its effectiveness in dealing with the different business cultures of the countries in which it operates, and its success in multiple jurisdictions, Cleary Gottlieb received Chambers & Partners’ inaugural International Law Firm of the Year award.

Organized and operated as a single, integrated global partnership (rather than a U.S. firm with a network of overseas offices), Cleary Gottlieb employs more than 1,200 lawyers from more than 50 countries and diverse backgrounds who are admitted to practice in numerous jurisdictions around the world. Since the opening of our first European office in 1949, our legal staff has included European lawyers, most of whom have received a portion of their academic legal training in the United States and many of whom have worked as trainees in one of the firm’s U.S. offices. The firm was among the first international law firms to hire and promote non-U.S. lawyers as equal partners around the world.

Our clients include multinational corporations, international financial institutions, sovereign governments and their agencies, as well as domestic corporations and financial institutions in the countries where our offices are located. Although each of our 16 offices has its own practice, our “one firm” approach to the practice of law offers clients in any office the ability to access the full resources of all of our offices and lawyers worldwide to the extent their matters so require.

PRO BONO

Cleary Gottlieb believes that the practice of law is a privilege, one that carries with it the responsibility to apply our talents for the benefit of less privileged individuals and communities, as well as our profession and the public sector. Throughout the firm’s history, our lawyers have dedicated themselves to improving the community and helping people.

Cleary Gottlieb’s longstanding commitment to public service dates back to three of its founders: Henry J. Friendly became Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, George W. Ball served as Undersecretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Fowler Hamilton served as Director of the Agency for International Development. This founding spirit and conviction lives on today with the firm dedicating more than 70,000 hours to pro bono and public service efforts annually.

In our pro bono program, clients receive the same quality of representation that has earned Cleary Gottlieb its world-renowned reputation for legal excellence.

In 1968, Cleary Gottlieb was the first law firm to establish an externship program granting lawyers paid leaves of absence to work at selected legal services organizations. The firm provides fellowships to recent law school graduates who join the Legal Aid Society and for one student to staff the Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic during the summer.

In New York, the firm supports its local community through a mentoring and teaching partnership with a local high school and with a micro-enterprise partnership in which we provide corporate legal advice to help disenfranchised businesses. The latter opportunity also allows corporate lawyers to volunteer their skills to further small business development.

The firm carefully screens and approves all pro bono cases and employs a full-time pro bono administrator to manage the program and match clients’ needs with lawyers’ services. Our lawyers meet regularly with nonprofit legal services providers and longstanding pro bono clients to discuss ways Cleary Gottlieb’s legal talent can best continue to help our communities.

Lawyer in Pro Bono Practice:
Jennifer L. Kroman – Director of Pro Bono Practice, New York
T: +1 212 225 2348
F: +1 212 225 3999