Jones Day is an international law firm based in the United States. As of 2018, it was the fifth largest law firm in the U.S. and the 13th highest grossing law firm in the world. Jones Day is one of the most elite law firms in the world, ranking first in both M&A league tables and the 2017 U.S. Law Firm Brand Index 2017. Jones Day has numerous high profile clients, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Fox News, and represents over half of the companies in the Fortune 500, including Goldman Sachs, General Motors, and Verizon.
History
Jones Day was founded as Blandin & Rice in 1893 by two partners, Edwin J. Blandin and William Lowe Rice, in Cleveland, Ohio. Frank Ginn joined the firm in 1899, and it changed its name to Blandin, Rice & Ginn. Rice was murdered in August 1910. In 1912, Thomas H. Hogsett joined the firm as partner, and it became Blandin, Hogsett & Ginn that year, and Tolles, Hogsett, Ginn & Morley a year later after the retirement of Judge Blandin and the addition of partners Sheldon H. Tolles and John C. Morley. After Morley retired, in 1928, the firm adopted the name Tolles, Hogsett & Ginn. In its early years, the firm was known for representing major industries in the Cleveland area, including Standard Oil and several railroad and utility companies. In November 1938, then-managing partner Thomas Jones led the merger of Tolles, Hogsett & Ginn with litigation-focused firm Day, Young, Veach & LeFever to create Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis. The merger was effective January 1, 1939. The firm's Washington, D.C., office was opened in 1946, becoming the firm's first office outside Ohio. In 1967, the firm merged with D.C. firm Pogue & Neal to become Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
As of 2018, Jones Day was the fifth largest law firm in the U.S. and the 13th highest grossing law firm in the world.
Compensation
The firm compensates each associate uniquely, based on the quality of their work, and jurisdiction. Unlike many peer firms, Jones Day does not pay a year-end or mid-year bonus, compensating associates entirely with salary; salaries are not public and are not determined by class-year, and the firm has long said that its "black box" compensation system breeds collegiality, and that its associates—even though they are not paid a bonus—generally earn the same as, or more than, associates at other major firms. New associates have a starting salary of US$190,000. Some associates have said that they are under-compensated compared to their peers at other firms, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars, and that their compensation is much lower than what they were promised when they interviewed.
In March 2017, the firm's Munich office was raided in order to obtain confidential client documents held by the firm in relation to its Munich-based Volkswagen emissions scandal internal investigation. The public prosecutor's office seized electronic data and "a large number of paper files" for use in the Brunswick, Germany-based investigation of Volkswagen Group subsidiary Audi AG. German courts upheld the legality of the raid, and no further charges resulted, as of March 2019.
Gender Discrimination Suit
In 2019, six plaintiffs, who were former Jones Day Associates, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the firm in Washington DC federal court. The plaintiffs allege unfair pay between female and male associates at the firm. Jones Day has denied the allegations made by the plaintiffs and the case is currently pending further litigation.
Marvin Bower, McKinsey & Co. consultant; Bower reportedly based his approach to management consulting—now the dominant model in that profession—on his observations of the practice of law at Jones Day
