Quinn Emanuel's Boston Office Rings Five-Year Anniversary After String of Victories
Boston office of leading global litigation firm opened in 2018 and now boasts 40 top-flight litigators, handling disputes of all kinds.
BOSTON – Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP – the world’s leading global business litigation firm – is celebrating its fifth anniversary in Boston after a string of trial victories and vigorous growth. Since opening its Boston doors in 2018, the firm has built an impressive roster of litigators, growing from three lawyers to 40 and filling a significant need in the Boston legal market for a top-tier litigation firm with major trial talent. Since opening the office, Quinn Emanuel – repeatedly named the world’s “most feared” litigation firm – has quickly established its Boston bona fides, doing more jury trials than any other AmLaw 100 firm in Boston.
“We are delighted but not surprised by the success of our Boston office,” said firm Founder and Chairman John B. Quinn. “The Boston market was always viewed as tradition-bound and insular. But we make it our mission to find the right mixture of talent and market familiarity in order to dominate quickly.”
“Having been a trial lawyer in Boston my entire career, I knew this market was ripe for a litigation firm of Quinn Emanuel’s caliber,” said Harvey J. Wolkoff, Head of the Boston office. “We have had great success in our relatively short time here, and as our office grows and adds more exceptional talent, we will continue to thrive.”
Wolkoff founded the office with Quinn Emanuel Partners Steve Cherny and Patrick Curran and soon added Boston’s former top federal prosecutor, William Weinreb. Only a few months after opening, Quinn Emanuel won the office’s first jury trial in a bet-the-company case for Markforged, a Boston-based 3D printing tech company. That success in the courtroom has continued as just last month, Weinreb won an acquittal for businessman Jie Jack Zhao, charged in an alleged college admissions bribery scandal at Harvard.
Although the office has quickly adapted to the Boston market, it remains true to the firm’s values. The office boasts a culture that is far from the New England norm, with no dress code and a standing work-from-anywhere policy.
While the office’s leaders are deservedly taking some time to reflect on their victories, they are anything but complacent. While financial services, complex commercial disputes and intellectual property litigation drive growth, the office is emphasizing that they are a one-stop-shop for litigation of all kinds, from contract disputes to employment law issues to white-collar criminal defense.
“Quinn Emanuel-Boston is driven by getting results for our clients and giving development opportunities to our lawyers—and that allows us to recruit and retain top female talent,” said Aliki Sofis, a Partner in the firm. Sofis – named by Chambers USA as the Massachusetts “Up and Coming Lawyer” in General Commercial Litigation in 2021 and 2022, as well as a Lawdragon 500 “Leading Lawyer in America for Business Litigation” for four consecutive years – proudly noted that fully half of the lawyers in the Boston office are women.