Cozen O’Connor
About Company
Ranked among the top 100 law firms in the country, Cozen O’Connor has more than 825 attorneys in 29 cities across two continents. We are a full-service firm with nationally recognized practices in litigation, business law, and government relations, and our attorneys have experience operating in all sectors of the economy. Our diverse client list includes global Fortune 500 companies, middle-market firms poised for growth, ambitious startups, and high-profile individuals.
In an industry built on talk, Cozen O’Connor has made its name by doing. We have built our firm one case, one victory at a time. Our attorneys have impeccable academic credentials and are able to combine intellectual rigor with practicality and efficiency. We provide sophisticated, business-minded advice aimed at one simple goal: getting the right result for our clients. No matter how complex, contentious, or critical the undertaking, we persevere until the job is done.
Business Law
The firm serves as a trusted adviser and lead dealmaker on behalf of an impressive roster of national and international corporate clients. Our attorneys are recognized as among the country’s most practical and creative corporate practitioners. Rarely is the path from point A to point B a straight line, so our role is to find alternatives, devise workable strategies, and keep projects moving forward to completion. Cozen O’Connor’s business attorneys help clients achieve their goals with respect to mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, intellectual property, real estate, utility & energy, environment, securities, tax, transportation & trade, employee benefits and executive compensation, bankruptcy, public and project finance, insurance corporate and regulatory and health law.
Litigation
Cozen O’Connor’s historical roots are in litigation, and we are widely known as one of the top trial firms in the country. This firm has more attorneys in the American College of Trial Lawyers and more attorneys who have led major trials than any other comparably sized firm. Our long track record of aggressive and innovative advocacy gives us an edge both in court and in negotiations. We have experience resolving many types of disputes, including in the areas of complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, labor & employment, securities, antitrust, product liability, aviation, construction, environment, insurance claims & litigation, and criminal defense and government investigations.
Government Relations
Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies is a bipartisan government relations firm based in Washington, D.C., with strength through the mid-Atlantic region. The group serves clients on the federal, state and local level and before both the executive and legislative branches of government. Public Strategies professionals have held high-level political positions in Republican and Democratic administrations; worked for members of Congress and congressional and state committees; and run federal, state and local political campaigns. The team helps ensure that clients are seen and heard by key decision makers, and provides critical crisis management and public relations counsel.
Pro Bono
Access to legal counsel is a fundamental right of every citizen in a democratic society. Cozen O’Connor is committed to helping ensure that universal access is a reality. Since our founding in 1970, we have dedicated tens of thousands of attorney hours to pro bono representation of indigent individuals and charitable institutions. Cozen O’Connor is a signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge of the Pro Bono Institute and strives to provide 3 percent of billable hours to pro bono clients every year.
Because attorneys drive their own pro bono practices, Cozen O’Connor’s pro bono portfolio is varied and expansive. We have attorneys working in jurisdictions across the nation on matters related to immigration, child custody, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, civil rights, veteran’s rights, housing, the arts, education, religious freedom, and more.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Cozen O’Connor is committed to employing a diverse complement of attorneys and staff, and to fostering greater inclusion in the legal profession. To pursue this important mission, Cozen O’Connor has adopted a multilayered approach. Our efforts are led by our Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer and our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, which was first established in the late 1990s and includes attorneys from various practice areas and offices, as well as staff from the recruiting, marketing, and professional development departments. In addition, the firm offers resource groups to promote the success and inclusion of several self-identifying constituencies.
Most recently, Cozen O’Connor achieved Mansfield 5.0 Certification status for 2022. This is the highest designation that a firm can receive from the Diversity Lab. Mansfield Certification Plus recognizes that, in addition to meeting or exceeding the pipeline consideration requirements for certification; women, minority, LGBTQ+ and lawyers with disabilities represent at least 30 percent of a significant number of firm leadership roles and committee positions. Very few firms are able to achieve this status.
We know that having diverse members in decision-making roles is a critical way to ensure that those constituencies are heard and represented. In addition, we believe it is vital for young lawyers to see diverse attorneys as members of the board of directors, Management Committee or Hiring Committee, and as chairs of practice groups or office managing partners because it helps them envision a real pathway toward success.
Women’s Initiative
The Cozen O’Connor Women’s Initiative is dedicated to the development and enhancement of professional and personal relationships among our female attorneys and clients. Our long-standing commitment to providing a supportive, collaborative culture for female attorneys formally began in the late 1990s and continues to prosper today, creating a positive environment for the hiring, retention and promotion of female attorneys within Cozen O’Connor.
Our goals are:
• To educate and mentor our female attorneys, providing them with the skills and opportunities needed for professional and personal success;
• To encourage and train our female attorneys in order to pave the way to leadership in the firm and with professional, corporate, nonprofit and civic organizations;
• To create new business opportunities and expand networking relationships with other firm attorneys;
• To raise the profile of female attorneys in the business community; and
• Through the achievement of the above goals, to support the firm’s ongoing commitment to promote women to firm leadership positions.