Our history
We opened over a case we were told to settle.
Thirty years later the firm is forty-one people — and still runs on the rule that started it.
Meet the firmThe record
Thirty years, told as decisions.
Every one of these changed what the firm was able to take on next.
1994
Three attorneys, one room
Marcus Vale and two colleagues left a Midtown firm over a matter they had been told to settle, and opened on Fifth Avenue with the file still on the desk.
1999
The first trial win that mattered
A construction defect case nobody expected to survive summary judgment went to verdict, and the firm stopped being the one you called when the big firms were conflicted.
2004
Litigation and corporate under one roof
Clients kept arriving with disputes that were really governance problems. We hired for both sides of that sentence rather than referring half of it out.
2009
The year the phone did not stop
Restructuring and employment work through the crash — much of it done at fixed fees for businesses that could not have paid hourly, and several of which are still clients.
2014
The pro bono commitment
Every attorney at the firm commits fifty hours a year to housing, immigration and civil rights work. It has not been optional since, and it will not become optional.
2019
Written pricing, on every matter
We stopped issuing engagement letters that left the fee open. Scope, basis and realistic outcomes go in writing before work starts — no exceptions, no matter the client.
2026
Forty-one people, eleven practices
Still partner-led, still on Fifth Avenue, and still refusing the instruction where we think somebody else would serve the client better.
“We opened because a client was told to settle a case that should have been won.”
Marcus Vale — founding partner, 1994–2021
Unchanged
Three things that have never moved.
The honest assessment first
Before the strategy, before the fee, before anyone signs anything — what we actually think your position is worth.
A partner on every matter
The attorney who takes the first call runs the file. Associates support that person; they do not replace them.
The right to say no
We turn down instructions we do not believe in, and we tell the client who would serve them better.
Exceptional legal defense for your rights.
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