The firm was founded in 1929 and became known as Thompson Coburn in 1996 through the merger of two St. Louis firms, Thompson & Mitchell and Coburn & Croft.[citation needed] In July 2007 Thompson Coburn merged with Fagel Haber of Chicago. In 2013, the firm merged with Los Angeles-based Freedman Weisz LLP and opened an office in Los Angeles.[6]
In July 2020, Roman Wuller succeeded Tom Minogue as chairman.[1][7] In July 2021, Thompson Coburn combined with Hahn & Hessen and opened a new office in New York.[8] The Hahn & Hessen addition expanded the firm's capabilities in representing financial institutions and other financial market participants in commercial finance, bankruptcy, workouts, and complex litigation.
The firm has over 400 attorneys in more than 50 areas of law as of 2024. In September 2023, the firm announced that Chris Hohn had been elected to follow Wuller as the next chairman, effective August 2024.
Thompson Coburn was the first major law firm in Missouri to support a bill extending basic workplace protections to members of the LGBT community.[9][10]
Thompson Coburn represented[when?] the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis pro bono in a $30 million EPA settlement to clean up 10-acre Superfund site in St. Louis.[11][12]
Thompson Coburn is a sponsor of Street law, a pipeline program with the Association of Corporate Counsel that introduces high school students to possible careers in the law.[13]
Some of the firm's notable cases include, but aren't limited to:
Northwest, Inc. v. Ginsberg, No. 12-462 (Counsel of Record for Amicus International Air Transport Association) (preemption of state law and regulation under Airline Deregulation Act) (decided Apr. 2, 2014, 572 U.S. 273)
Bowman v. Monsanto Company, et al., No. 11-796 (Co-counsel for Respondent and Counsel below) (enforceability of patent rights after sale) (decided May 13, 2013, 569 U.S. 278)
Norfolk Southern Ry. Co. v. Sorrell, No. 05–746 (Co-counsel for Petitioner and Counsel below) (standards of causation and negligence under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act) (decided Jan. 10, 2007, 549 U.S. 158)
Federal Maritime Commission v. South Carolina State Ports Authority, No. 01-46 (Counsel of Record for Respondent and Counsel below) (Federal regulatory proceedings and State sovereign immunity) (decided May 28, 2002, 535 U.S. 743)
