The story
Founded by Abe Fortas and Thurman Arnold in 1946.1
The original firm was founded as Arnold & Fortas in 1946 by New Deal veterans Thurman Arnold, a former Yale Law School professor and U.S. Court of Appeals judge on the D.C. Circuit, and Abe Fortas, another former Yale Law School professor who later became a Supreme Court justice. In 1947, Paul A. Porter, a former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, joined the firm and it was renamed as Arnold, Fortas & Porter. In 1965, Abe Fortas' name was dropped from the firm's name, after his ascension to the Supreme Court, as is customary. Arnold & Porter later refused to re-admit its founder to the firm, following Fortas' 1969 resignation from the Supreme Court.
Law360 named Arnold & Porter one of its litigation powerhouses in 2016, when more than half of the firm's lawyers worked in litigation and its disputes practice spanned nine offices.
In November 2016, Arnold & Porter announced a merger with New York-based firm Kaye Scholer, forming Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, with approximately 1,000 attorneys across 14 offices. The merger took effect on January 1, 2017. In July 2025, the firm announced the launch of a new office in Seattle, bringing its tally of U.S.- based offices to 11.
In February 2018, The National Law Journal reported that the newly combined "firm has quietly reversed its post-merger branding efforts" and "scrubbed nearly all mention of Kaye Scholer from its public image, changing its brand name, email addresses and web domain", while retaining the legal entity name in full. In September 2020, Arnold & Porter announced that its Frankfurt office would be shut down by the end of March 2021.
In 2022, Arnold & Porter was a founding member of the Legal Alliance for Reproductive Rights, a coalition of United States law firms offering free legal services to people seeking and providing abortions in the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overruled Roe v. Wade.
In 2024, Arnold & Porter reported a 5% increase in revenue, reaching $1.19 billion. Profits per equity partner rose to $1.63 million, and revenue per lawyer increased by 6.5% to $1.24 million.
From Wikipedia’s article on Arnold & Porter, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5