To appreciate the Foley Hoag difference, consider their history. In 1943, the legal profession was an exclusionary culture enforced by a rigid unwritten social code. Yet two individuals, Henry Foley and Garrett Hoag, defied the status quo, daring to establish a different kind of law firm based on a radically new criterion: individual merit.
This commitment, which endures seven decades later, has yielded a high-performing firm with a long record of success across a wide range of industries. Blending the best of tradition and innovation, their lawyers – past and present, in the United States and around the world – practice at the highest levels of the profession, delivering the highest level of client service.
Over the past eight decades, they have evolved and adapted along with the law. Their clients value their ability to anticipate trends both in the law and in their specific industries. As they’ve evolved, however, they have preserved the best of traditional lawyering. In a world driven by technology, they still pick up the phone and seek the face-to-face interactions needed to cultivate solid client relationships. This is just one aspect of their professionally serious yet easy-going culture, which has inspired unusual loyalty in both their clients and their lawyers.
Since the firm was founded, they have established deep roots in the Boston-area entrepreneurial community, focusing considerable resources on cultivating the next generation of technology companies. They work closely with these organizations throughout their entire lifecycle, from inception through financing, growth and maturity. They host hundreds of events every year for entrepreneurs and investors, who often find new business partners before the night is over.
Their distinguished alumni include global business leaders, general counsel of leading companies, a U.S. senator, a U.S. ambassador, accomplished state policy leaders, university presidents, and the first African-American partner at a Boston law firm.
They have invested in their community locally and globally through endeavors such as the Foley Hoag Foundation. Established in 1980 with an initial focus on improving race relations among youth in Greater Boston, the Foundation’s mission is now broadened to support programs addressing inequality in its various forms, including but not limited to racial, ethnic or gender disparities. Their pro bono program, independently ranked in the country’s top one percent, focuses on a wide range of matters around social justice, education, nonprofit support, intellectual property rights and economic fairness.
