James A. Murphy: Here at Murphy & McGonigle, our focus is on representing companies in the financial services industry. Specifically, that means commercial banks in the U.S. and abroad, investment banks, securities brokerage firms, hedge funds and private equity. We also represent stock markets and exchanges, along with public companies of all kinds and their officers, directors and boards in securities litigation and white collar criminal cases. Murphy & McGonigle is a different kind of law firm. When we started in 2010, we designed it from the ground up to be an efficient and bureaucracy free place, where our lawyers could focus on one thing: delivering world class service to our clients. We embrace technology to help us deliver solutions that are faster and just plain better. We started with just 14 lawyers in 2010 and have grown to 45 lawyers today. It's fair to say we have maintained a very high bar for talent. We have several attorneys who previously worked at the SEC, many of them in senior positions in enforcement and trading and markets. Others previously served in senior positions at the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan, FINRA, and the CFTC. We also have lawyers who served in senior positions within large financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, UBS and MasterCard. So our goal was to build an all-star team of legal talent here, and we are well on our way. The pace of innovation in the financial services sphere is faster than ever. As financial services firms expand their digital offerings, they need specialized advice from lawyers who are comfortable on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. We advise on a myriad of regulatory issues, from Blockchain applications to new digital products for clients who are looking for a trusted partner that can help them seize new opportunities through innovation. We even have an innovation lab of our own, where we create faster, more efficient solutions for our clients through technology. We create interactive databases that leverage client and law firm data for better insights leading to better decisions. We design legal apps and have hired our own full-time computer coder. It's an exciting time to be a trusted advisor to our clients that are leading the wave of innovation in financial services. From a culture perspective, diversity and inclusion has been a core value since the day we started, and we have a sincere devotion to meaningful community service. We are immensely grateful to our clients, who've called on us since the beginning to help them meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that lie ahead.
A Message from the Chairman
I think it is fair to say that 2020 will go down in the record books as a most challenging year. But I am delighted to report that, here at Murphy & McGonigle, we met every challenge with compassion and resolve. And we delivered for our most important constituencies: Our People, Our Clients and Our Communities.
In March, we re-engineered our law firm to a fully work-from-home operational model. Our IT and admin teams proved once again that they are the best in the business. We adapted rapidly to changing conditions and continued to deliver world-class service to our clients without missing a beat.
We kept faith with Our People by putting their health and safety first. Notwithstanding the economic uncertainties, we chose not to lay off or cut the pay of a single staff member or associate.
With various shut down orders in place across the country, we found new avenues to serve Our Communities in a time of great need, including fighting for compassionate release for the most vulnerable among the incarcerated population. We redoubled our commitment to Diversity & Inclusion in a number of ways, including by signing on to the new Mansfield Rule for Midsize Law Firms.
In the midst of all the challenges of 2020, we seized opportunities we saw in the marketplace. This is in our DNA. We opened new offices in San Francisco and Chicago this year. We found outstanding partners in Mauricio Beuglemans and Harris Kay to lead the charge in San Francisco and Chicago, respectively. We are gratified by the wonderful reception we have already received from clients. And we look forward to building an All-Star team of legal talent in each of these markets.
In June, we celebrated our firm's Ten Year Anniversary. Ten years ago, we opened our doors with little more than an entrepreneur's optimism and a few core values. One of those core values was the commitment to maintaining a high bar for talent. I am pleased to say that, after ten years, we have stayed true to those core values. And the results have been beyond anything we could have imagined. We were recently informed by U.S. News & World Report that Murphy & McGonigle has been chosen the "Law Firm of the Year" in Securities Regulation for 2021. We are the first boutique law firm in the country to receive this accolade! It is a remarkable affirmation of our law firm model and those core values to which we all committed when we opened our doors just ten years ago.
Most of all we are grateful for Our Clients, who continue to place their trust and confidence in us by calling on our team to handle some of their most complex and sensitive legal matters. We never lose sight of the fact that we must earn that trust and confidence every day.
On behalf of all the lawyers and staff at Murphy & McGonigle, we thank you sincerely for your continued support.
James A. Murphy, Chairman