Founded in 1980, Susman Godfrey focuses its nationally recognized practice on just one thing: big - stakes commercial litigation. We are one of the nation's leading litigation boutique law firms with locations in Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York. Each of the firm's 88 trial attorneys specialize in complex commercial litigation environment.
How successfully does Susman Godfrey represent its clients? When The American Lawyer recently held the first-ever "Litigation Boutique of the Year" competition, the firm was named one of the two top litigation boutiques in the nation. "These firms manage to combine cutting-edge technologies, palpable tastes for risk, and an old-fashioned sense of partnership," said The American Lawyer. "The rewards are obvious: Their clients are stellar, and so are their profits." In other words, Susman Godfrey represents its clients very well. A record of winning Susman Godfrey's very first case, the Corrugated Container antitrust trial, led to one of the highest antitrust jury verdicts ever obtained. Since that extraordinary start, the firm has devoted the past 30 years to helping businesses and individuals achieve similaryly extraordinary results. Recent high-profile victories (click on the links below to see the particular facts and circumstances of these representations): Representation of the plaintiffs in a number of successful private antitrust actions against Microsoft Corporation, including litigation or private negotiations on behalf of Gateway, Novell, Caldera, Be, Inc., and others.
Successfully concluded the pro bono representation of Texas Clean Air Cities Coalition which included Dallas, Houston, Fort Worth, Waco, El Paso, Plano, Arlington, Irving, and 28 other local governments across Texas. The cities were concerned about the environmental threats resulting from the large amounts of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, mercury, and carbon dioxide to be emitted from the proposed plants. The coalition of Texas cities challenged permit applications by TXU Corporation to build eight coal-fired power units across Texas. In February 2007, following the announcement of the proposed buyout of TXU by two private equity firms and citing a new environmental direction for the company, TXU announced that it would withdraw applications for all eight of the coal units that the coalition opposed.
These are only a few of our recent cases. Our practice area inserts provide a more complete description of Susman Godfrey's successes in a number of areas of commercial litigation, including intellectual property, antitrust, accounting malpractice, energy and natural resources, securities litigation, and climate change litigation. The will to win At Susman Godfrey, we want to win because we are stand-up trial attorneys, not discovery litigators. We approach each case as if it is headed for trial. Everything that we do is designed to prepare our attorneys to persuade a jury. When you are represented by Susman Godfrey, the opposing party will know that you are willing to take the case all the way to a verdict if necessary; this fact alone can make a good settlement possible. The American Lawyer award confirmed Susman Godfrey's longstanding reputation as one of the premier firms of trial lawyers in the United States. We are often brought in on the eve of trial to "rescue" troubled cases or to take the reins when the case requires trial lawyers with a proven record of courtroom success. We also want to win because we share the risk with our clients. We prefer to work on a contingency-fee basis so that our time and efforts pay off only when we win. Our interests are aligned with our clients—we want to achieve the best-possible outcome at the lowest possible cost. Finally, we want to win because each of our attorneys shares a commitment to your success. Each attorney at the firm – associate as well as partner – examines every proposed contingent fee case and has an equal vote on whether or not to accept it. The resulting profit or loss affects the compensation of every attorney at the firm. This model has been a tremendous success for both our attorneys and our clients. In recent years, we have achieved the highest profit-per-partner results in the nation. Our associates have enjoyed performance bonuses equal to their annual salaries. When you win, our attorneys win. Unique perspective Susman Godfrey represents an equal number of plaintiffs and defendants. Ours is not a cookie-cutter practice turning out the same case from the same side of the bar time after time. We thrive on variety, flexibility, and creativity. Clients appreciate the insights that our broad experience brings. "I think that's how they keep their tools sharp," says one. Many companies who have had to defend cases brought by Susman Godfrey on behalf of plaintiffs are so impressed with our work in the courtroom that they hire us themselves next time around – companies like El Paso Corporation, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Mead Paper, Nokia Corporation and Tenneco. We know from experience what motivates both plaintiffs and defendants. This dual perspective informs not just our trial tactics, but also our approach to settlement negotiations and mediation presentations. We are successful in court because we understand our opponent's case as well as our own. A lean and mean structure At Susman Godfrey, our clients hire us to achieve the best possible result in the courtroom at the least possible cost. Because we learned to run our practice on a contingency-fee model where preparation of a case is at our expense, we have developed a very efficient approach to commercial litigation. We proved that big cases do not require big hours. And, because we staff and run all cases using the same model, clients who prefer to hire us by the hour also benefit from our approach. There is no costly pyramid structure at Susman Godfrey. As a business, we are lean, mean and un-leveraged – with a one-to-one ratio between partners and associates. To counter the structural bloat of our opponents, who often have three associates for each partner, we rely on creativity and efficiency. Susman Godfrey's experience has taught what is important at trial and what can be safely ignored. We limit document discovery and depositions to the essential. For most depositions and other case related events we send one attorney and one attorney alone to handle the matter. After three decades of trials, we know what we need – and what is just a waste of time and money. Unparalleled talent Susman Godfrey prides itself on a talent pool as deep as any firm in the country. Clerking for a judge in the federal court system is considered to be the best training for a young trial attorney, and 91% of our lawyers served in these highly sought-after clerkships after law school. Seven of our attorneys have clerked at the highest level – for Justices of the United States Supreme Court. Our associates are not document-churning drones. Each associate at Susman Godfrey is expected to second-chair cases in the courtroom from the start. Because we are so confident in their abilities, we consider associates for partnership after six years with the firm, unless they joined us following a federal judicial clerkship. In that case, we give credit for the clerkship, and the partnership track is generally five years. We pay them top salaries and bonuses, make them privy to the firm's financials, and let them vote – on an equal standing with partners – on virtually all firm decisions. Each trial attorney at Susman Godfrey is invested in our unique model and stands ready to handle your big-stakes commercial litigation. | 
