Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP

When President Donald Trump announced the first draft of his travel ban executive order, Keker, Van Nest & Peters LLP associates rushed to airports to help people stranded by the unexpected edict.

They didn't wait to hear back from the firm's partners, who were at their annual retreat. They instinctively sprung into action.

"The associates knew without having to check in they could go and do that and have our full support," said Susan J. Harriman, a partner who has been with the firm since 1985. "We were proud of what they were doing."

The firm prides itself on its partner-to-associate ratio, which it attempts to keep as close to 1-1 as possible, its dedication to political activism and pro bono work, and litigating massive cases that are usually reserved for much larger firms.

"Everyone on the team has a role at trial," said Ashok Ramani, a partner who has been with the firm for 15 years. "Typically associates will get witnesses and do a lot of argument." Harriman said she made the decision to join the firm while waiting for an interview in its office, observing the firm's culture. She was the 10th attorney at the firm. It's now grown to more than 90 lawyers. The firm added Elliot R. Peters to its masthead in January. Peters interviewed with the firm as a law clerk in 1987, and it made a good impression on him as well.

"They were informal, a little bit irreverent and they were trial lawyers," he said. "The firm had a very informal kind of fun loving attitude about it." Peters decided to take a post at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and asked the partners if they would be interested in hiring him after five years working for the government. They declined. Peters was undeterred. When he decided to return to private practice he called the firm back and they made him an offer.

The firm prides itself on attracting young lawyers who want to be part of the action and don't take no for an answer. All attorneys get roles in trials early on to give them valuable experience. At times the 1-to-1 ratio model means more work for partners, but in the long run they are rewarded by the rapid pace at which their young attorneys develop trial skills.

The firm puts those trial chops to good use, handling massive cases affecting the bottom lines of some of the most sought-after clients on the planet. Peters spends quite a bit of his time defending the reputation of prominent attorneys from other firms against claims that could damage their reputations.

"It's such an honor to be asked by other lawyers to help them out when they have a problem," he said. Christa Anderson, who second chaired the Oracle v. Google trial, working with Robert Van Nest, said she has been in charge of managing the day-to-day activities of quite a few big litigations, but nothing quite like this.

Last year, a San Francisco federal jury held that Keker client Alphabet Inc.'s inclusion of Oracle Corp.'s Java programming code in its Android mobile operating system was fair use under copyright law. Oracle America Inc. v. Google Inc., 10-CV3561 (N.D. Cal., filed Aug. 12, 2010). The case is on appeal.

The former mathematics major said holding together all the pieces of a complex case in her mind is a similar mental exercise to what she did as an undergrad.

"A lot of the things I like about math are present in the law, trying to have a rule or a theorem or a principle you apply to a set of facts and try to come up with the best solution," she said. "The case has a lot of great lawyers involved in it, in an industry and a field that really matters."

-- Joshua Sebold