Sidley Austin

Sidley Austin LLP (formerly Sidley Austin Brown & Wood) is one of the world's largest law firms with over 1,700 lawyers in 16 offices around the world. The firm was founded in 1866 in Chicago, U.S.

Sidley Austin is also a lobbying firm that has lobbied in 2007 for over 30 corporations and associations such as General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, and Monsanto.

Work
According to its website, Sidley works in "corporate and securities, mergers and acquisitions, securitization, intellectual property, funds and other pooled investments, bankruptcy and corporate reorganization, bank and commercial lending, public finance, real estate, tax and employee benefits, as well as trusts and estates." Additional areas are "general and commercial litigation, securities and financial litigation, regulatory enforcement, antitrust, white collar criminal defense, food and drug, patent and other intellectual property litigation, product liability and mass tort litigation, international commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, and international trade law."

Sidley Austin Settled Age Bias Suit
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, on behalf of 32 former employees, pursued an age discrimination suit against Sidley Austin. Most of the workers were in their 50s and 60s and had been demoted in status to counsel. In 2007, without a "determination of merits", the law firm agreed to pay a settlement of US$27.5 million.

Political contributions
Sidley Austin gave $115,221 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 30% to Democrats and 70% to Republicans.

Clients
Clients for Sidley's legal services include Fortune 500 corporations, as well as governments, banks, insurance and financial companies, professional firms, foundations, associations, and individuals.

Lobbying
A few of the clients on whose behalf Sidley Austin has engaged in lobbying in 2007 include:
 * ARAMARK Corp
 * Bayer
 * Caterpillar Inc
 * Celgene Corp
 * Honeywell
 * MasterCard
 * United Parcel Service
 * U.S. Chamber of Commerce

American Electric Power also spent $580,000 on Sidley Austin LLP in 2008 and a further $10,000 to date in 2009. The registered lobbyist was Andrew Shoyer.

Contact details
Chicago Office: One South Dearborn Chicago, Illinois 60603 Phone: (312) 853-7000 Fax: (312) 853-7036 Email: webmaster AT sidley.com Web: http://www.sidley.com

New York Office: 787 Seventh Avenue New York, New York 10019 Phone: (212) 839-5300 Fax: (212) 839-5599

Offices also in Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.

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