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Smith, Gambrell & Russell

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Smith, Gambrell & Russell
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Offices14
No. of attorneysAlmost 400[1]
Key peopleStephen M. Forte (Managing Partner, Executive Committee Chairman)
Date founded1893
FoundersAlexander & Victor Smith
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitesgrlaw.com

Smith, Gambrell & Russell (abbreviated SGR; also known as Smith Gambrell) is an international law firm originally founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1893. As of 2024, it has offices in eleven cities in the United States: Atlanta; Austin; Charlotte; Chicago; Jacksonville; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Springfield; Tampa; and Washington, D.C. It also has three offices in other countries: one in London, England, one in Southampton, England, and one in Munich, Germany.[1][2]

History

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Smith, Gambrell & Russell was founded in 1893, originally under the name "Alexander & Victor Smith", by two Atlanta lawyers named Alexander Smith & Victor Smith. In 1909, Alex Smith Jr. joined the firm, which was then named Smith, Hammond, & Smith. In 1939, E. Smythe Gambrell became a partner at the firm Gambrell & White. In 1948, Harold L. Russell became a named partner at this firm, which by then had been renamed Gambrell, Harlan, Barwick & White. Meanwhile, the law firm Smith, Hammond, & Smith had also been renamed multiple times; by 1949, it had been renamed Smith, Partridge, Field & Doremus. In 1966, this firm, now named Smith, Ringel, Martin & Lowe, merged with Cohen, Kohler, Barnwell & Chambers to form Smith, Cohen, Ringel, Kohler & Martin. In 1984, Smith, Cohen, Ringel, Kohler & Martin merged with Gambrell & Russell to form Smith, Gambrell & Russell.[3]

Recent mergers

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In recent years, Smith, Gambrell & Russell has undergone multiple additional mergers. For example, on April 1, 2022, it entered the Chicago market for the first time by merging with Figliulo & Silverman, a Chicago-based law firm which focused on business and real estate disputes.[4] Similarly, the following year, Smith Gambrell merged with Chicago-based law firm Freeborn & Peters. This increased Smith Gambrell's size from about 290 attorneys to about 400, and from 12 offices to 14.[2] The resulting firm was estimated to have global annual revenues of approximately US$260 million.[5][6] However, though this merger did not prevent Smith Gambrell's revenues from continuing to rise in 2023, it also led to a decrease in the firm's profits for 2023 compared to previous years.[7] In 2024, SGR announced another merger, this one with ABL Law, a Jacksonville, Florida-based firm aimed at middle-market companies.[1][8]

Notable partners

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Notable partners at Smith Gambrell include judge Elizabeth L. Branch, who was a partner at the firm before being confirmed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in 2018,[9] and Leah Ward Sears, a current partner at the firm who was formerly Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court.[10]

Recognition

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Smith, Gambrell & Russell has been repeatedly named to U.S. News's Best Law Firms list, as well as the American Lawyer's Am Law 200 list of highest-grossing law firms in the United States.[11][12]

References

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