Baker McKenzie

Baker McKenzie
Company type	Privately held company
Industry	Legal services
Founded	1949; 77 years ago
Founder	Russell Baker, John McKenzie
Headquarters	Chicago, United States
Area served	Worldwide (71 offices in 46 countries)
Key people	Sunny Mann (global chair, effective October 2025), Milton Cheng (global chair from 2019), Paul Rawlinson (former global chair, 2016–2019)
Products	Legal services
Number of employees	4,595 lawyers (attorneys) (2022)
Website	www.bakermckenzie.com

Baker McKenzie is a global law firm headquartered in Chicago, originally established in 1949 under the name Baker & McKenzie. With a network of 71 offices spanning 46 countries and employing 4,595 lawyers, it ranks among the top law firms worldwide in terms of both revenue and the number of US-based legal professionals.

History

Russell Baker, one of the founders, started his legal career in Chicago in 1925, primarily serving the Mexican American community, which laid the foundation for the firm's later international growth. In 1949, John McKenzie joined forces with Baker, further expanding the firm's global footprint. The firm’s international operations commenced in 1955 with an office in Caracas, followed by rapid expansion into key global cities. By 1990, Baker McKenzie had grown to 49 offices across six continents and achieved revenues of $400 million.

Christine Lagarde made history in 1999 as the first female to chair a major international law firm’s global executive committee; she subsequently held positions as France's Finance Minister and Managing Director of the IMF. By 2001, the firm employed 3,000 attorneys and generated $1 billion in revenue. In 2005, it integrated 70 partners from the dissolved Coudert Brothers firm.

In 2004, Baker McKenzie became the pioneer among major law firms to implement the Swiss Verein organizational model. Two years later, in 2006, it secured management of Unilever’s worldwide trademark portfolio—the largest such outsourcing arrangement—marking a significant achievement. Russell Baker was recognized as an innovator by American Lawyer in 2013.

Post-2008 financial crisis, Baker McKenzie was the first law firm to exceed $2.5 billion in revenue by 2014 and held the distinction of being the largest by headcount globally. Paul Rawlinson served as global chair from 2016 until his passing in 2019; Milton Cheng took over later that year. In 2022, following controversies over homophobic social media content, the firm swiftly ended its partnership with its UAE affiliate. Sunny Mann was named global chair in June 2025, effective from October.

Size and structure

As of 2022, Baker McKenzie stood as the largest US-based law firm by attorney count and ranked second globally by headcount and third by revenue. Between 2015 and 2022, Reuters consistently placed it at number one for cross-border transactions and involvement in emerging markets.

The firm functions under a Swiss Verein framework, maintaining distinct regional profit centers and partner remuneration systems while unifying strategy, branding, and IT operations. Unlike most Vereins formed through mergers, Baker McKenzie uniquely transitioned from a single partnership structure.

Notable matters and transactions

Baker McKenzie has played a role in landmark legal cases and represented prominent corporations:

In 2007, it advocated for parental rights to self-representation before the US Supreme Court concerning education law.
In 2009, it secured a precedent-setting tax victory against the IRS on behalf of Symantec involving tax disputes exceeding $1 billion.
The firm acted for Microsoft in a significant tax litigation case with the IRS.
It provided pro bono assistance that contributed to overturning Paul Chambers’ conviction related to the "Twitter Joke Trial."
In 2016, Baker McKenzie represented Facebook during an IRS dispute over asset valuation connected to its Irish holding company.

Controversies

In 1986, Baker McKenzie encountered one of the earliest lawsuits related to AIDS discrimination after terminating attorney Geoffrey Bowers; the firm ultimately resolved the matter with a $500,000 settlement following public hearings. This legal dispute served as partial inspiration for the movie Philadelphia.

In 1994, legal secretary Rena Weeks prevailed in a sexual harassment lawsuit against Baker McKenzie, securing a $6.9 million punitive damages award that was upheld on appeal—marking the largest such award at that time. The partner implicated in the case received a formal reprimand and was subsequently dismissed by the firm.

Tax avoidance

Baker McKenzie appeared in the Pandora Papers in 2021 due to its involvement in offshore structuring for non-U.S. clients. This included creating shell corporations in Cyprus for RJR Nabisco, devising tax shelter arrangements for Nike, and relocating Facebook’s tax headquarters to Ireland to facilitate substantial tax reduction. Among its clientele have been controversial individuals such as Malaysian fugitive Jho Low.

The firm has advocated for the establishment of tax-exempt zones within the UAE, a practice critics claim enables illicit financial flows. Additionally, Baker McKenzie has lobbied against regulatory measures designed to limit offshore tax avoidance and enhance due diligence requirements for foreign clients of American financial institutions.

According to the ICIJ, Baker McKenzie is regarded as "a key architect of the contemporary tax avoidance framework," assisting fraudsters, corrupt officials, and authoritarian elites in concealing wealth through complex arrangements involving shell companies, trusts, and tax havens. The Pandora Papers exposed Baker McKenzie's role in setting up over 440 offshore entities registered in tax havens—surpassing any other major U.S. law firm.

Russia

Baker McKenzie has established itself as a preferred legal advisor for Russia’s largest corporations and significant foreign investors, representing Russian state-owned enterprises such as Gazprom, Sberbank, VTB Bank, VEB.RF, Sviaz Bank, and defense manufacturer Rostec.

In 2016, the firm provided counsel to Rostec regarding the sale of shares in a Mongolian copper mining operation—a deal later linked to a corruption inquiry. In 2021, Baker McKenzie advised Russia’s Ministry of Finance on issuing bonds worth $1.8 billion.

The Pandora Papers revealed that Baker McKenzie represented at least six Russian companies subject to sanctions. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the firm initially continued its relationships with Russian state-owned clients while assessing compliance with sanctions. By late March 2022, Baker McKenzie declared its withdrawal from the Russian market.

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