The View From 30 Rock

When someone mentions “30 Rock” these days, it is often in reference to a popular television sitcom bearing the nickname of an iconic New York City building.

Many tourists visiting the Manhattan skyscraper -- officially known as 30 Rockefeller Center -- time their pilgrimage to the site to coincide with the airing of NBC’s popular Today Show produced there every morning. They usually jockey for a primo position behind hosts Matt Lauer or Ann Curry so friends or family can see them on the small screen back home.

Often lost in this daily crush of sightseers and gawkers is the flow of business taking place inside “30 Rock.”

For nearly two decades now, the building that stretches some 70 stories into the ‘Big Apple’ skyline has been home to the New York office of Baker Botts L.L.P. The popularity of 30 Rockefeller Center makes it easy to direct clients and visitors to the firm’s offices, and it provides a certain “inside New York” persona -- not just anybody can claim space in the building that serves as a backdrop for the national Christmas Tree lighting ceremony broadcast .

“It’s a marquee building in Manhattan, an iconic building,” says Lee Charles, Partner in Charge of the New York office for Baker Botts.

The building’s proximity to the ebb and flow of tourists and stars from all walks of life -- Radio City Music Hall is just around the corner -- presents a few challenges to the firm’s 125 lawyers and staff who spend many hours inside at work.
“It’s easy to tell clients where we’re located, but we have to try and schedule meetings here at times when the crowds aren’t going to make it difficult for them to make it up to our offices,” Charles says. “During the holidays we tend to conduct more of our client meetings offsite.”

The work being done by Baker Botts in the building does not attract the attention of tourists who flock to 30 Rock each year to visit Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios or to take a ride to the “Top of the Rock” observation deck to get a bird’s eye view of the city that never sleeps. And there is a downside to all the tourist attractions located in the area: an often-overwhelming pedestrian and vehicular traffic firm clients encounter when visiting the firm’s office.

When is traffic the most challenging?

“From the time the Christmas tree goes up in front of the building until it comes down, the crowds abound,” Charles says. “But our clients have learned to live with that situation. If you’re not used to it, all the congestion can be a bit disconcerting.”

The tourist attractions include celebrity sightings, the 75-person line at “Just Salad” in the building’s concourse, and the wafting music and screaming “tweens” who can be heard in the firm’s offices from NBC’s Today Show Concert Series.
Even with distractions from outside sources, the firm’s New York footprint has grown during the past 20 years from mainly corporate work to include intellectual property, litigation and banking and finance representations -- including counseling on sophisticated hedge fund issues.

For example, New York-based Baker Botts lawyers helped The Neiman Marcus Group obtain a favorable arbitration award in a major real estate dispute and secured a $10.75 million jury verdict for Plasma Physics Corp. in a patent infringement case.

The New York office’s cornerstone client, however, remains Liberty Media Corporation, even though the company’s Denver home office is undetectable from the building’s famous “Top of the Rock” view. A team of firm lawyers worked with Liberty Media on several high-profile transactions, including its spin-off of DirectTV and its proposed acquisition of national bookseller Barnes & Noble.

“We recognize that Baker Botts is respected as an international energy firm, and we have worked to leverage that reputation in New York,” Charles says. “We continue to grow and diversify , and expand into new areas that make sense for the New York market.”

So, was there a particular performer worth opening a few of the firm’s windows on a summer morning (yes, the iconic skyscraper’s windows still open)?

“Bruce Springsteen performed once,” Charles recalls. “That was worth it.”

More information about the New York office of Baker Botts is available here.

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About Baker Botts L.L.P.
Baker Botts is an international law firm with over 725 lawyers and a network of 13 offices around the globe. Based on our experience and knowledge of our clients’ industries, we are recognized as a leading firm in the energy, technology and life sciences sectors. Throughout our 170-year history, we have provided creative and effective legal solutions for our clients while demonstrating an unrelenting commitment to excellence. For more information, please visit www.bakerbotts.com.