Founding to 20th century (1865 - 2000) The firm was founded in 1865 by two
Harvard Law School graduates, John Codman Ropes and John Chipman Gray, Jr.. In 1878,
William Loring, also a Harvard graduate, joined the firm, and it was renamed "Ropes, Gray and Loring" until Loring's departure in 1899, when he was appointed to the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and the firm was renamed as "Ropes, Gray and Gorham" with the addition of Robert Gorham. Following Gorham’s death, the firm was renamed Ropes, Gray, Boyden & Perkins in 1914, adding Roland Boyden and
Thomas Perkins as name partners. The firm began with representation of, mainly, individuals, and
Harvard University. With the addition of Loring, in 1878, the
New York and New England Railroad became a client, and the firm began its shift to corporate law, growing to 11 lawyers and 15 staff by 1910. In 1940, the firm's name was changed to Ropes, Gray, Best, Coolidge & Rugg, until 1961, when its original name, "Ropes & Gray" was again adopted. In 1942, a book written by Albert Boyden, which chronicles the history of the firm, was published under the title
Ropes-Gray, 1865-1940.
21st century In 2003, the firm acquired New York City based private equity law firm Reboul, MacMurray, Hewitt & Maynard. In 2005, it acquired NYC-based intellectual property law firm Fish & Neave. Two years later, the firm opened its first international office in Tokyo, followed by an office in London, in 2010. In 2012, the
Korean Bar Association approved Ropes & Gray as the first Foreign Legal Consultant Office in Korean history, allowing the firm to open an eleventh office, in Seoul. In 2017, the firm elected Julie Jones as chair, who had been a member of its management committee since 2011. After serving as chair-elect for two years, Jones took the helm in 2020, as the first woman to chair the firm. In 2024, as Jones was re-elected to another five-year term, Neill Jakobe was elected to serve a five-year term as vice chair. In 2023, the firm opened an office in Dublin, Ireland. In November 2023, amid
antisemitic incidents at U.S. law schools, Ropes & Gray was among a group of law firms that sent a letter to law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter stated: "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses." In 2024, the firm, previously 16th, was ranked 24th in the
London Stock Exchange Group's global M&A legal advisor rankings, reflecting more than 200 deals valued at $136.8 billion. raising its office count to 15, with seven U.S. offices, in Boston, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Palo Alto, and other international offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, Singapore, Dublin, London, and Paris. == Practice areas ==