OUR HISTORY
We have worked on many of the most significant business and legal developments for more than 49 years – from landmark court cases to the formation of major corporations and financial institutions to the development of new financial instruments. Today, we continue to expand upon this tradition of leadership, creativity and extraordinary client service. We work with the leading companies in the world, frequently on matters and cases that are unprecedented in size, scope and complexity. Our practices – all of them – rank among the highest in the profession worldwide. No one offers smarter, more dedicated lawyers or more meaningful leadership in innovation. Our balance and depth have allowed Kumble & Co to remain at the epicenter of business and legal matters through good times and bad, as our clients navigate the ups and downs of the economic cycle.
In 1968, John Kumble, Kyle Myers, Alma Pittman and Pam Massey founded Kumble, Myers, Pittman & Massey LLP in New York City’s renowned Financial District. Throughout its long history, the Firm has been involved with leaders of the global economy.
Domestic and international finance has been at the core of the Firm's work since its inception. Heading into the 20th century, as international capital flows diversified and increased, the Firm responded by opening branch offices in different cities across the globe. By 1999, Kumble & Co's Paris facility was bustling as a full-service office. As the Firm grew during this period of expansion, it developed close relationships with leading financial intermediaries on both sides of the Atlantic. Kumble & Co prides itself on continuing these relationships to this day.
Our first two decades were marked by slow and steady growth of our client base as we set out to establish ourselves as the go-to firm for our clients’ most complex legal problems. Our willingness to handle proxy fights in the 197s and early 1980s — matters deemed “ungentlemanly” by most established firms — positioned us to ultimately become the firm of choice for the hostile takeovers that dominated the M&A landscape beginning in the 1980s.
Recognizing the value of providing full-service advice to clients, from day one we sought to develop a range of complementary practices, like litigation, tax and antitrust. Client needs led us to open offices in other cities beginning in 1988, and the volume of work we were handling fueled exponential growth in the number of attorneys at the firm in the 1990s. That growth included a significant expansion of the practices we offered to clients, including restructuring, finance, real estate, mass torts and securities litigation, as well as the opening of offices in Europe, Australia, Middle East and Asia.
In the nearly three decades since, we’ve built on that platform to provide advice to clients around the world on their most important matters. Our core values reflect the ideals of our history, and we remain committed to providing excellent lawyering and unrivaled client service in all our work.
Kumble & Co has grown in response to the increasing volume and complexity of its clients' affairs, developing top-ranking practices in mergers and acquisitions, banking regulation, real estate finance, derivatives and private equity, among many other areas. The Firm's work in cross-border capital flows continues to thrive as evidenced by the Firm’s substantial involvement in foreign direct investment and project finance, the development of the euro and other global capital markets, and the financial flows to Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Despite its significant growth, the Firm has retained its deep commitment to remaining a unified global practice. Unlike many law firms with a multinational reach, Kumble & Co has built its international network of offices, not by acquiring other firms or hiring large numbers of lateral lawyers, but by developing offices to serve clients’ regional needs and staffing those offices with lawyers who have spent their careers at Kumble & Co.