Here at Venable, we are in the midst of celebrating several notable anniversaries around the firm. This year marks the firm's 125th birthday and the 20th anniversary of our New York office. Our expansion into New York was a big step in our evolution from a mid-Atlantic regional firm into a full-service provider of legal services with a national footprint.
We spoke to partner-in-charge Matt McLaughlin and longtime partner Lawrence Cooke to find out more about the growth of the office and its important role in Venable's history.
Q: What can you tell me about the founding of Venable's New York office?
Matt: Venable had been looking at firms in New York for about five years, and they had a few opportunities that they passed over. Our little firm [Heard & O'Toole] was a pure litigation boutique. It was 15 or 16 lawyers at its biggest. We were having a hard time growing, so we knew we needed to take some steps.
Partner Ed O'Toole and I were in DC in January of 2005, and he insisted that we have drinks with a guy named Frank Ciatto, who had just made partner at a firm called Venable. We shared that a reason we were in DC was to explore a merger with a national firm. Frank told us to hit the brakes on such discussions because he wanted us to meet with chairman Jim Shea. He shared that Jim had been looking to open a New York office for a few years without success.
Six months later, on June 30, Lawrence and I—and three or four others—became Venable partners overnight.
Lawrence: A week earlier, we had an event when the partners at Heard & O'Toole signed on to become partners at Venable. All of the top management from Venable came up, and we walked out onto the balcony on the 61st floor of the Chrysler Building. That was a bit of an experience for some of the folks who had come up from Washington and Baltimore, not only because it is the highest private terrace in New York City, but also because it was not used regularly and had very rudimentary safety equipment. But we had a beautiful day, and we were all quite enthusiastic about combining forces.
Q: A few years later, you moved to Rockefeller Center as the office continued to grow gradually. Then there was another combination in 2018 with Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto. Can you talk about how that came about?
Matt: In the same way that 2005 was a dramatic watershed moment for us, 2018 was equally significant because the New York office doubled in size again overnight. And we may have doubled in IQ because these patent lawyers are very, very smart. It was a great bunch of people who shared our cultural values and our sense of putting a priority on excellence of practice, and a certain flavor of client service that we're proud of having in New York. We were honored to have them join us, and it's been a nice combination, going on seven years now.
Lawrence: We were fortunate that we could bring this great group of lawyers into the New York office, though we were in two different offices [located at 1270 and 1290 Avenue of the Americas]. So, Ed and Matt put their heads together to figure out how we could quickly integrate these two offices.
Ed asked me and two others to go over [to 1290], and we were the first to sit in their offices as we tried to figure this out. About three months later we moved half of the Venable lawyers to 1290, and half of the former Fitzpatrick lawyers moved to 1270. It was all part of an effort to get to know the people and their practices. That has been extraordinarily successful. Matt and I count some of the Fitzpatrick lawyers among those who we go to all the time with legal and strategy questions.
Q: In 2023 you moved into your current building in Times Square. How did that come about, and what's it been like to all be together for the first time?
Matt: We began the search for a new office with a list of 45 places. We went around and looked, and looked, and looked, and it came down to a final four. And this place [151 W. 42nd Street] emerged early on as the front runner. As soon as [upper management] saw 151, the other three were cast aside. It was like, you sort of know your home when you see it, and that's what happened here.
In 2023, we moved into this great new office, and that's been another watershed moment for us because the psychology of being split between two offices is kind of challenging. Suddenly, we were all together in one continuous body of five floors with a central staircase.
Q: What are you most proud of concerning the evolution of the New York office and the office today?
Matt: Lawrence and I are particularly proud of the fact that we've preserved our original cultural values that we had at Heard & O'Toole. We had a small-firm feel at Heard & O'Toole because it was a small firm. We have somehow almost miraculously preserved that small-firm feel, even though we are a much larger office now. There's a nice sense of camaraderie and culture, and a good sense of humor. You'll still hear peals of laughter once in a while in the hallways here in New York. So, we're very glad we preserved a decent, pleasant feel in the office.
Q: We're celebrating the firm's 125th birthday this year—what role do you feel the New York office has played in the firm's history?
Lawrence: When Jim Shea was looking to expand into New York, it was part of a strategy where he wanted to take Venable—which had always had a wonderful reputation in the mid-Atlantic area—and make it into a national law firm. The New York office was the first step in that strategy, and that has succeeded. We now have offices in Florida, Denver, Chicago, Northern California, and Los Angeles. We have become a national law firm in part because the New York office worked out.
125 Years Young
Want to keep the party going? Visit 125 Years Young to learn more about how we're marking the firm's 125th birthday, explore major milestones, and read about other anniversaries we're celebrating in our offices around the country.