April 13, 2022
Exponential Growth Since March 2020 Drives Addition of 25,000 Square Feet
CHICAGO, April 13, 2022 – Willkie Farr & Gallagher announced that its Chicago office, opened two years ago, is doubling the law firm’s space at 300 North LaSalle Drive with the addition of another 25,000 square-foot floor. The Willkie Chicago office launched on March 31, 2020 at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic with six lawyers and has grown to more than 60 lawyers today.
“We are pleased that the market has responded as we expected with continued and increasing demand for our services, and we are continuing to grow to meet that demand,” said Craig C. Martin, Chair, Midwest. “Our growth is clear evidence that when you bring together the right mix of diverse, talented attorneys, top-flight trial and private clients lawyers combined with the first-rate global private equity, M&A, asset management and other Willkie practices, the business and legal communities respond.”
Construction is expected to start in late 2022 with a projected move-in date of 2023. Current plans include doubling the number of perimeter offices, adding more open and collaborative space for Willkie’s teams of lawyers, and building out a fully tech-enabled state of the art mock courtroom.
“The Willkie Chicago office developed from our strong trials and litigation practice,” Martin said. “Having a mock courtroom accessible to our lawyers enables them not only to prepare for upcoming matters, but also will help to integrate new technologies into our playbook. It also will be an outstanding training ground for our younger attorneys. As the Chicago office continues its impressive growth, our commitment to providing clients with the best-prepared, most astute litigators remains the highest priority.”
Willkie’s expansion in Chicago is rooted in its destination trials and litigation practice, with significant growth in core practice areas, including trial practice, antitrust litigation, class actions, commercial litigation, ERISA litigation, patent litigation and private client groups. In addition, Willkie intends to continue attracting lawyers to expand the firm’s transactional capabilities in Chicago, which already include 10 Chicago-based lawyers in areas such as corporate and financial services, business reorganization and restructuring, asset management, finance, communications and media, cybersecurity, executive compensation and employee benefits, insurance transactions and regulation, and real estate.
“Our focus on bringing together the best, brightest and most diverse team of professionals, along with Willkie’s elite platform, has helped propel our success. It’s a winning formula and one we continue to follow,” Martin said.
About Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP is an international law firm of approximately 1,000 attorneys with offices in Brussels, Chicago, Frankfurt, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Palo Alto, Paris, Rome, San Francisco and Washington. The Firm is headquartered in New York City at 787 Seventh Avenue.
