A CHANCE ENCOUNTER
College classmates Robert Eliot Goodwin and Joseph Osborne Procter, Jr. run into each other on a Boston sidewalk and decide to start their own law practice. They each contribute $500 for start-up costs.
1910s
1946
Al Capp, creator of the syndicated cartoon Li’l Abner, becomes a client, relying on the firm for help with contracts, licensing and IP concerns.
Young partners and associates take leaves to serve in World War II, reducing the firm from 15 to 7 lawyers.
1941-1945
Pioneering mutual fund management company Keystone Custodian Funds faces serious structural issues as the Investment Company Act of 1940 goes into effect. Goodwin Procter helps the company navigate the new hurdles with resourceful financial and legal structuring.
1940
Partners Leonard Wheeler (alone, at lectern) and Frank Wallis play instrumental roles in the historic Nuremberg Trials, presenting much of the Americans' case against the Nazis. "It was a most amazing and thrilling experience," recalled Wallis. "I was speaking to the world - not only the world of today but the world of future generations."
1945-1946
1940s
1912
Fred Robbins becomes Chair of the firm's Executive Committee and gives a broader voice to all firm partners.
1977
NEW LEADERSHIP
Court-mandated busing to desegregate city schools creates a furor in Boston. The Boston School Committee disobeys the court's order and vigorously fights it. In a highly public and largely pro bono engagement, the firm agrees to represent a newly elected Boston School Committee, but only if it adopts a less confrontational stance. This change is instrumental in calming the hysteria, anger and distrust gripping Boston.
CALMING THE BUSING CRISIS
The firm's real estate practice grows significantly in the 1970s and has a hand in many of the biggest developments around Boston, including the Charlestown Navy Yard, Copley Place and many projects in Cambridge and across the 128 and 495 high-tech corridors.
1975
BREAKING NEW GROUND
The firm moves down the street from 28 State Street to Exchange Place at 53 State Street.
1985
NEW HOME AT EXCHANGE PLACE
Bob Fraser assumes the role of Managing Partner after Fred Robbins' self-imposed eight-year term expires. Goodwin Procter is now a large firm with 145 lawyers. Fraser becomes the firm's first full-time Managing Partner, organizes the firm into departments, implements a two-tier partnership structure, and institutes a commitment to civic support commensurate with the firm's expanding stature.
1984
In honor of the firm's 75th Anniversary, partners, associates and employees contribute $1 million to the City of Boston for Goodwin Procter SEED (Support for Early Educational Development) grants.
1987
PLANTING SEED
Partner David Hashmall succeeds Regina Pisa and becomes the firm’s sixth Chairman.
2014
NEW CHAIRMAN
Partner Rob Insolia is named the firm’s fifth Managing Partner and its first to be based in New York City.
NEW MANAGING PARTNER
Goodwin prioritizes diversity and inclusion at the firm and in the broader legal industry by signing on to Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule in 2017 and Move the Needle Fund in 2019.
2017
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
NUREMBERG TRIALS
INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940
WORLD WAR II
PROTECTING LI’L ABNER
Fish, Richardson & Neave, the patent attorneys upstairs from Goodwin & Procter, refer a young engineer for help with incorporation. Dr. An Wang's lab, specializing in magnetic storage technologies, ultimately becomes one of the most successful computer companies of the 20th Century, and one of the firm's most prominent clients.
1955
A MAN NAMED WANG
After WWII, the firm witnesses the end of an era. Firm leaders Colonel Goodwin and Cushing Goodhue have both entered semi-retirement and Sam Hoar dies unexpectedly, paving the way for new leadership amidst new post-war opportunity.
1952
END OF AN ERA
Nichols, a prominent corporate attorney, develops an impressive roster of clients, helping them through corporate, tax, regulatory and strategic challenges and opportunities. He ultimately serves on nearly 50 boards. "In almost every case I was quickly put on the executive committee,” said Nichols later. “I liked to feel that I had an impact."
1957
DICK NICHOLS BUILDS CORPORATE PRACTICE
The firm takes on a pro bono death penalty case in Florida at the behest of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. After nearly six years, 7,500 hours of work, two trials in Florida and a federal habeas corpus proceeding, Goodwin lawyers succeed in having the defendant’s death sentence vacated. Two years later, Massachusetts’ death penalty statute is successfully challenged when the firm prepares and files a friend of the court brief on behalf of the Boston Bar Association. The Commonwealth’s high court adopts the position argued in the brief and holds the state’s death penalty statute unconstitutional.
1982
CAPITAL CASES
Bob Fraser
At its century mark, Goodwin Procter has 850 lawyers and another 720 professional staff serving clients from offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
2012
GOODWIN TURNS 100!
After more than 100 years at the corner of State and Congress, Goodwin takes up residence in Boston’s Seaport District. The firm also launches a refreshed brand, reflective of its significant evolution in the prior 15 years.
2016
NEW HOME AND BRAND
Goodwin plants flags in mainland Europe, opening Frankfurt and Paris offices initially focused on real estate, private equity and M+A work.
2015
EUROPEAN EXPANSION
1950s
1970s
1980s
2010s
David Hashmall
Rob Insolia
Fred Robbins
Dr. An Wang
Sam Hoar
Dick Nichols
Al Capp
Managing Partner Rob Insolia succeeds David Hashmall as the firm’s seventh Chairman. Partner Mark Bettencourt becomes the firm’s next Managing Partner, and Partner Joanne Gray joins the Management Committee as Litigation Department Chair.
2019
NEW LEADERS
2021
NEW BUSINESS LAW LEADERS
Lynda Galligan, partner in the Silicon Valley office, and Josh Klatzkin, partner in the Washington, D.C. office, succeed partner Mark Macenka as co-chairs of the firm’s booming business law department.
Prev:
Goodwin launches new brand and updates logo.
UNPRECEDENTED
1920s
1930s
1960s
1990s
2000s
2020s
The firm’s European expansion continues with a second German office in Munich.
2022
GROWTH IN GERMANY
Singapore Opening
Powered by client demand in the region and globally, Goodwin opens a new office in Singapore, the firm’s second location in Asia.
The founders help a sardine packing company issue preferred stock but later discover the company financials were fabricated. They take out a $30,000 loan to buy back all outstanding shares at face value. "It was the best thing Joe Procter and I ever did in our 20 year association," Robert Goodwin said later. "We forged a definite standard of professional integrity, and nailed it to the mast of our little ship."
1914
ESTABLISHING AN ETHICAL STANDARD
Goodwin & Procter opens on July 1, 1912 in a small suite on the 5th floor of the India Building at 84 State Street.
1917
Robert Goodwin joins the Massachusetts National Guard and is soon deployed to France under General John "Black Jack" Pershing. He rises to the rank of colonel and commands the 101st Field Artillery, ultimately earning the Distinguished Service Medal. He is forever after affectionately and respectfully known as "Colonel Goodwin."
World War I
Robert Goodwin
Colonel Goodwin
Joseph Procter
The firm helps grocery magnate and entrepreneur Charles Francis "C.F." Adams, the first owner of the Boston Bruins, build the Boston Garden in 1928, and later purchase a share of the Boston Braves, as well as an ownership stake in Suffolk Downs, a horseracing track.
BRUINS AND BRAVES
In one of Massachusetts' longest and most prominent trials of the era, Sam Hoar, who believed billboards to be a blight on the landscape, defends the right of the Commonwealth and local governments to regulate them, successfully arguing that billboards jeopardize public safety since they coax drivers to take their eyes off the road.
BILLBOARD BLIGHT
An 11th floor is added to the India Building and the firm moves up to sunny, spacious quarters on the 9th floor. With more room and plentiful work, 11 new attorneys are hired over the next five years.
1924
1921-1927
1928
MOVING UP
Charles Ponzi operated his infamous scheme in Boston until he was exposed in August 1920. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those who collected on their investments could be forced to refund the money, thousands sought recovery in the bankruptcy courts. As bankruptcy referee for Middlesex County, Colonel Goodwin helps sort out the Ponzi mess with accuracy and fairness.
PONZI SCHEME AFTERMATH
Charles Ponzi
The booming post-war economy offers Goodwin, Procter and their colleagues plenty of work. Two new partners join the firm: Frederick Field (who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts) and Sam Hoar, who would, along with his son Sam Jr., play a prominent role at the firm.
1920
GOODWIN, PROCTER, FIELD & HOAR
Frederick Field
1926
Joe Procter dies suddenly at age 52. Cushing Goodhue takes over managing the office, running a tight ship.
1932
LOSS OF JOE PROCTER
Following the stock market crash of 1929, the firm fares better than most thanks to a surge of liquidation cases.
1930
COPING WITH CATASTROPHE
Nearly 800 people are killed and 57,000 homes destroyed when the hurricane strikes New England on September 21. In the wake of the devastation, Massachusetts issues emergency funding, some of which is misappropriated by corrupt officials. Colonel Goodwin and Frank Wallis lead an investigation that exposes the corruption and saves the state nearly $20 million.
1938
THE GREAT HURRICANE OF 1938
A surge of federal regulation brought on by the New Deal brings new work to the firm. Greater Boston's manufacturing and maritime industries fade, and the financial management industry expands, presenting new opportunities for work on highly complex financial transactions.
1934
NEW DEAL AND NEW INDUSTRY
The Massachusetts governor pardons New England Mafia boss Raymond Patriarca, causing public outrage. The resulting furor leads to an investigation, headed by Sam Hoar, that brings about reformation of the pardon laws and impeachment of a member of the Governor's Council.
PARDON AND PUBLIC OUTRAGE
Raymond Patriarca
MOVE TO 28 STATE STREET
DIVERSITY TAKES ROOT
Founder Robert Goodwin formally retires, ending a remarkable 60-year legal career.
Partner Don Hurley plays an instrumental role in conceiving, drafting and securing passage of an exemption for parent companies holding single banks and non-banking subsidiaries, thus providing relief from rigorous federal restrictions on commercial banks for many of his clients.
1963
SINGLE BANK HOLDING COMPANY EXEMPTION
COLONEL GOODWIN RETIRES
REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST ACT
The firm hires its first Jewish lawyer, Josh Berman, and its first female lawyer, Erato "Trudi" Haseotes. At the end of the decade, the firm’s first African-American lawyer, Harrison Fitch, joins.
1961
The firm grows to approximately 100 people. Copy machines are new technology, time is entered on ledger cards and Saturday work days are reduced to every other week.
1960
GOODWIN PROCTER TURNS 50
After more than a half-century in the India Building at 84 State Street, the firm moves to a sleek new office tower up the street at 28 State.
1969
Tax partners Allan Higgins and Charlie Post spend seven years helping draft and secure passage of the Real Estate Investment Trust Act, which is signed into law in September 1960. The Act is hailed as a significant catalyst for real estate development across the country.
Trudi Haseotes
Regina Pisa, a 42-year-old financial services and M&A lawyer, is named Chairman and Managing Partner. She is the nation’s first woman to hold these titles at a major law firm.
1998
CRACKING THE CEILING
The firm makes its first foray outside Boston, establishing an office in the nation’s capital with an initial focus on mortgage finance work.
1994
WASHINGTON, D.C.
With 280 attorneys, Goodwin Procter enters the decade as the largest law firm under one roof in the country, according to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.
1990
ONE-ROOF RECORD
Real estate lawyer and former Hiring Partner Jeff Dando succeeds Bob Fraser as Managing Partner.
1993
Goodwin Procter expands its platform in the Northeast, establishing a New York office initially staffed to service its real estate capital markets clients.
1997
NEW YORK CITY
The firm further expands its pro bono efforts, instituting a pro bono committee of partners with a full-time administrative manager. The committee substantially increases and diversifies the pro bono work performed by the firm.
1999
GIVING BACK
Jeff Dando
Regina Pisa
The acquisition of 27 lawyers from a northern New Jersey firm and 13 litigators from a New York products liability shop builds critical mass and bolsters the firm’s IP and litigation practices.
2000-2001
RAMPING UP NEW YORK
In a 14-month period from April 2006 to June 2007, the firm opens multiple offices in California – locations include San Francisco, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
2006-2007
GOING WEST
The partnership develops an expansion plan, determining which practices and, then, which markets will deliver on the goal to become a fully national firm. Strategic focuses include financial institutions, private equity, complex litigation, real estate capital markets, IP and technology/life sciences.
2001
EXPANSION
In a strategic move The Boston Globe called possibly “the biggest coup in Boston legal history,” the firm announces the arrival of nearly 90 attorneys from the dissolving law firm of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault.
2005
THE TESTA INFLUX
The Washington office expands dramatically when the firm merges with Shea & Gardner, a highly regarded 75-lawyer litigation firm founded in the nation’s capital.
2004
MERGER IN D.C.
The firm opens its first international offices in London and Hong Kong. London attorneys initially focus on hospitality transactions and real estate fund work and Hong Kong lawyers concentrate on private equity, venture capital and fund work.
2008
EUROPE AND ASIA
Goodwin prioritizes diversity and inclusion at the firm and in the broader legal industry by signing on to Diversity Lab’s Mansfield Rule in 2017.
Mark Bettencourt (l), Rob Insolia (m) and Joanne Gray (r)
The firm continues its expansion with new offices in Santa Monica, Luxembourg and Cambridge, UK.
CONTINUED EXPANSION
As the world paused, Moderna stepped in. Demonstrating extraordinary resolve and ability, our client, Moderna, successfully developed and delivered a COVID-19 vaccine amid unprecedented circumstances.
2020
FACING THE UNPRECEDENTED
The firm celebrates the momentous occasion with the members of the Goodwin community, including our many alumni.
New York Office Turns 25 Years
The firm opens a life sciences and healthcare private equity-focused office in Philadelphia with a premier group of litigation and transactional partners.
2023
Coming to Philadelphia
The entire firm moves to working from home, with all 13 global offices officially closed as a result of an unprecedented global coronavirus pandemic. The firm shows remarkable resilience and community spirit in spite of these challenging circumstances.
FACING A PANDEMIC
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The firm continues its expansion with a new office in Luxembourg.
diversity and inclusion
