Hurlock Years and Global Expansion
Few individuals changed the firm more than James Hurlock, who shaped the firm's global presence and structure as its head from 1980 until 2000. Visionary and demanding, Hurlock was a Rhodes Scholar and spent ten of his first 16 years with White & Case in Europe.
Two early negotiations helped establish the reputation of the firm's sovereign practice, which represents a large number of nations, particularly in the former Communist and other emerging markets. During that time, Hurlock helped Indonesia reschedule more than US$10 billion of debt, mostly held by foreign banks, when state oil company Pertamina was unable to meet payments. The firm also helped Turkey reschedule debt incurred after the Turkish central bank accepted Turkish lira deposits convertible into hard western currencies.
White & Case began opening offices in business and financial centers worldwide, including Brussels in 1967; London in 1971; Washington, DC in 1978; Hong Kong in 1978; Singapore and Stockholm in 1983; Ankara and Istanbul in 1985; Los Angeles in 1986; and Miami and Tokyo in 1987.
When the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989, the firm moved quickly to open offices in Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow and Prague and was selected by the governments of Hungary, Poland, Russia and the Czech Republic to provide representation in their mass privatization programs.
In 1991, the firm opened an office in Mexico City. Helsinki (Finland) followed in 1992, Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Bangkok (Thailand) in 1993, Almaty (Kazakhstan) in 1994, Johannesburg (South Africa) in 1995, São Paulo (Brazil) in 1997 and Bratislava in 1999. In all these markets, White & Case remains one of only a small number of international law firms to have successfully established a presence.
White & Case was also one of the first law firms to spot the growing potential of the Chinese market, adding offices in Shanghai (2000) and Beijing (2004) to its Hong Kong-led Asian network.
From the beginning, foreign offices were regarded as an integral part of the firm. Jean-Luc Boussard, who joined White & Case in 1975, became the first European partner in 1982. Today, the majority of the firm's partners are based outside the United States.
Mergers and lateral recruitment also became part of the firm's strategy. In 1998, White & Case merged with Brussels' Forrester, Norall & Sutton, focusing on European Union law. The Brussels office today is a recognized leader in this area of practice.
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