Jones Day was founded in Cleveland in 1893 asBlandin & Rice by two partners, Edwin J. Blandin and William Lowe Rice.[9] Frank Ginn joined the firm in 1899, and it changed its name to Blandin, Rice & Ginn.[10] Rice was murdered in August 1910.[11] In 1912, Thomas H. Hogsett joined the firm as partner, and[10] it became Blandin, Hogsett & Ginn that year,[12] and Tolles, Hogsett, Ginn & Morley a year later after the retirement of Judge Blandin and the addition of partners Sheldon H. Tolles and John C. Morley.[10] After Morley retired, in 1928, the firm adopted the name Tolles, Hogsett & Ginn.[10]
In its early years, the firm was known for representing major industries in the Cleveland area, includingStandard Oil and several railroad and utility companies.[13]
In November 1938, managing partner Thomas Jones led the merger of Tolles, Hogsett & Ginn with litigation-focused firm Day, Young, Veach & LeFever to create Jones, Day, Cockley & Reavis. The merger was effective January 1, 1939.[14] The firm'sWashington, D.C., office was opened in 1946, becoming the firm's first office outside Ohio.[15] In 1967, the firm merged with D.C. firm Pogue & Neal to become Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.[16]
Jones Day has represented several companies in legal proceedings against labor unions.[17][18][19]
Jones Day has historically focused on corporate law, but since Stephen Brogan became managing partner in 2003, it has increasingly shifted to aiding theRepublican Party and the Americanconservative movement.[21] In the 21st century, the firm has increasingly taken on ideologically charged cases and causes. In 2025,The Atlantic wrote that it was known for its Republican clients and for its conservative advocacy.[22] During the Barack Obama administration, Jones Day challenged the constitutionality of theAffordable Care Act and theConsumer Financial Protection Bureau.[21]
During the first Donald Trump administration, Jones Day helped the administration to dismantle theadministrative state, combat early voting, and place a citizenship question on the census.[21] The firm provided services to Donald Trump for his personal legal problems, as well as helping his 2016 presidential campaign amid investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[21] This defense included trying to control which documents to hand over to investigators and which staff members to make available for interviews.[21] A substantial number of Jones Day lawyers then joined the first Donald Trump administration.[23][24] Jones Day partnerDon McGahn, who was previously a member of theFederal Election Commission, served as counsel for the 2016 Trump presidential campaign and was later nominated to serve as Trump'sWhite House Counsel.[25][26] As of March 2017, at least 14 Jones Day attorneys had been appointed to work for the Trump administration.[27]
Jones Day was outside counsel for the Trump 2016 and Trump 2020 campaigns.[28] From 2015 to November 2020, Jones Day received more than $20 million in fees from the Trump campaigns.[29][30] Jones Day earned more than $4.5 million for Trump 2020 campaign work between January 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020.[28]
In 2020, Jones Day was hired by Trump in his legal fight tochallenge the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to PresidentJoe Biden.[31] The firm worked for Trump in trying to have courts toss out Pennsylvania mail votes.[21] According toThe New York Times, Jones Day "was giving voice — and legal backing — to the president’s unsubstantiated fear-mongering about the possibility of an election tainted by fraud."[21] However, the firm said it "is not representing President Trump, his campaign, or any affiliated party in any litigation alleging voter fraud." Jones Day also said it "is not representing any entity in any litigation challenging or contesting the results of the 2020 general election" and that "media reports to the contrary are false."[32] According toThe New York Times, Jones Day's post-election justifications for its role in the 2020 election "blurred a basic fact: Jones Day and its lawyers were trying to stop votes from being counted, all in an effort to serve the client."[21]
After Trump left office, Jones Day hired a significant number of former Trump administration lawyers, including Don McGahn andNoel Francisco.[33]
When Trump became president again, in January 2025, the Trump administration hired Jones Day partner Brett Shumate to lead the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.[35]
Jones Day headquarters are located in the Acacia Building,Washington, D.C.
In 2018, Jones Day was the fifth largest law firm in the U.S. and the 13th highest grossing law firm in the world.[1] It is currently headquartered inWashington, D.C.
In 2019, some associates reported being under-compensated, compared to their peers at other firms, sometimes by tens of thousands of dollars, and that their compensation is much lower than what they were promised when they interviewed.[36]
In 2023, it was among the largest law firms in the United States, with 2,302 attorneys, and ranked among the highest-grossing in the world, with revenues of $2.5 billion in 2022.[1]
As of 2014[update] it served as lead restructuring counsel to the City of Detroit in connection with its chapter 9 bankruptcy case filed in July 2013 In re City of Detroit, Michigan, No. 13-bk-53846 (Bankr. E.D. Mich.)[44]
As of 2017[update] it representedNational Public Radio in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's ("FEMA") withholding of critical information. National Public Radio, Inc., et al. v. Federal Emergency Management Agency, et al., No. 1-17-cv-00091 (D.D.C.)[45]
As of 2021[update] the firm represented the Alabama Association of Realtors in a successful legal challenge to theCenter for Disease Control's nationwide eviction moratorium (Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services).[48][49] The CDC eviction moratorium covered approximately 30-40 million renters at risk of eviction.[50]
As of 2022 the firm represented Chevron in a MDL-class action lawsuit, denying that its herbicide productParaquat causes the onset ofParkinson's disease.[51]
As of 2022[update] the firm served as outside counsel for theTrump 2016 andTrump 2020 campaigns.[54] Jones Day collected more than $19 million from Trump's operation since 2020.[55]
Chaka Patterson, fundraiser for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former Chief of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Civil Division[83][84][85]
Since 2014, representing migrants, primarily women and children at the U.S.-Mexico border, with staffed office in Laredo, Texas.[91][92]
Launched Global Compendium of Laws on human trafficking- the first standardized collection of the relevant laws, on a country-by-country basis with theRotary Action Group Against Slavery (RAGAS).[93]
With theAmerican Bar Association, created VetLex, a national pro bono legal network to help veterans find volunteer attorneys that provide free and low-cost legal services.[95]
^abcdefghiEnrich, David (August 25, 2022)."How a Corporate Law Firm Led a Political Revolution".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331. RetrievedAugust 25, 2022.It is not uncommon for partners at corporate law firms to dabble in politics. Nor is it rare for a firm itself to throw its weight behind causes on the left or the right... What sets Jones Day apart is the degree to which it penetrated the federal government under Trump and is now taking advantage of a judicial revolution that it helped set in motion.
^"LOS ANGELES COUNTY".Los Angeles Times. August 20, 1987. RetrievedApril 12, 2023.Former California Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke has been named a partner in the Los Angeles office of the law firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue.
^"Yvette McGee Brown".Supreme Court of Ohio. RetrievedApril 13, 2023.After leaving the Supreme Court, Justice McGee Brown joined the Columbus office of Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue as a partner practicing business and tort litigation.
^Brennan, Tom (February 12, 2014)."Former Partner Rejoins Jones Day as Asia Head".The American Lawyer. RetrievedApril 12, 2023.Former Jones Day New York partner David Carden served for two years as the United States' first ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
^Castro Wyatt, Melissa (September 27, 2022)."Plotting Her 'Rewirement'".University of Virginia School of Law. RetrievedApril 13, 2023.Majoras had joined the firm's Chicago office as a litigation associate after a clerkship at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
^"Morgan E. O'Brien"(PDF).Federal Communications Commission. RetrievedApril 13, 2023.Mr. O'Brien had been with the firm of Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue, an international law firm, from January 1986 to January 1990, where he served as partner-in-charge of the firm's telecommunications section.
^"Who is Kevyn Orr?".WJBK. March 14, 2013. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. RetrievedApril 13, 2023.Gov. Rick Snyder announced Thursday that he had chosen Kevyn Orr, a partner in the law and restructuring Jones Day firm, as Detroit's emergency manager.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
