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{{Infobox Law Firm
| firm_name       = Shook, Hardy & Bacon, L.L.P.
| firm_logo       = [[Image:Shook Hardy & Bacon logo.svg|Shook, Hardy & Bacon]]
| headquarters    = [[Crown Center]]<br>[[Kansas City, Missouri]]
| num_offices     = 17
| num_attorneys   = 500+
| num_employees   = 1,400
| practice_areas  = [[Product liability]], [[tort]], business litigation, [[intellectual property]], environmental and toxic tort, labor and employment
| key_people      = Madeleine M. McDonough, Chair<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.shb.com/professionals/m/mcdonough-madeleine | title = Madeleine M. McDonough | access-date = 2017-01-30 | author = Shook, Hardy & Bacon}}</ref>
| revenue         = $353.52 M (2019) <ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2020/05/22/american-law-revenue-rankings-kansas-city-firms.html | title = See where KC-area law firms land on AmLaw's revenue rankings | access-date = 2020-09-16}}</ref>
| date_founded    = 1889
| founder         = [[Frank P. Sebree|Frank Payne Sebree]]<ref name=Hansen />
| company_type    = [[Limited liability partnership]]
| homepage        = {{url|1=http://www.shb.com/}}
| dissolved       =   <!-- Date/Reason the company dissolved, e.g., merger or bankruptcy -->
}}
[[File:2555 Grand Kansas City MO.jpg|thumb|Corporate headquarters in the 2555 Grand Building (where it occupies all 24 floors)<ref name=Hansen>{{cite web | title = Shook Hardy Smokes 'Em | url = http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/shook_hardy_smokes_em/ | author = Hansen, Mark | work = [[ABA Journal]] | date = 2008-10-01 | access-date = 2012-03-21}}</ref> in the [[Crown Center]] complex]]
'''Shook, Hardy & Bacon''' ('''SHB'''), L.L.P. (previously '''Shook, Hardy, Ottman, Mitchell and Bacon''') is a [[United States|U.S.]] [[law firm]] based in [[Kansas City, Missouri]]. In 2012, ''[[The National Law Journal]]'' ranked the firm as the 87th largest in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?germane=1202489565842&id=1202548639714&slreturn=20120621191949 | title=The NLJ 350 | work= The National Law Journal | year=2012 | access-date=2012-07-21}}</ref> The firm has offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Boston.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Ryan|first=Greg|date=2010-08-09|title=Shook Hardy enters big East Coast Market|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2019/08/09/shook-hardy-bacon-boston-office.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-16|website=Kansas City Business Journal}}</ref>

The firm is notable for its representation of five of the six major U.S. tobacco companies, and for its involvement in hiding the health risks of tobacco.<ref name="nyt1992" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=1996-12-15|title=Smoking's Big Guns|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-12-15-fi-9180-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2021-01-05|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}}</ref> The firm inspired the mythical firm of Smoot, Hawking in the satirical novel [[Thank You for Smoking (novel)|''Thank You for Smoking''.]]<ref name=":1" />

==Notable clients==
SHB also has represented pharmaceutical companies, including [[Eli Lilly and Company]], [[Amgen]], [[Bristol-Myers Squibb]], [[GlaxoSmithKline]], [[Sanofi-Aventis]], [[Guidant]] and [[Wyeth]].<ref name=Hansen /> In 2007, Shook also won a $69.5 million verdict on behalf of client [[Sprint Nextel]], against [[Vonage]].<ref>{{cite news | last = Bloomberg News | authorlink = Bloomberg News | title = Vonage Infringed 6 Patents of Sprint, U.S. Jury Rules | date = 2007-09-26 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/technology/26vonage.html | work = [[The New York Times]] | access-date = 2012-07-07}}</ref> William H. Colby, an attorney at the firm, represented [[Nancy Cruzan]] (by way of her parents) in the [[Euthanasia|right-to-die]] case, ''[[Cruzan v. Director, Missouri Department of Health]]'', as part of Shook's ''[[pro bono]]'' work.<ref>{{cite news | first = Margolies | last = Dan | title = Colby to write Cruzan story | date = 1998-08-02 | url = http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/1998/08/03/newscolumn1.html | work = Kansas City Business Journal | access-date = 2012-07-07}}</ref>

===Tobacco companies===
The firm has represented five of the six major U.S. tobacco companies: [[Fortune Brands (1969–2011)|American Brands]], [[Brown & Williamson]], [[RJR Nabisco]], Philip Morris Inc. (now [[Altria Group]]) and [[Loews Inc.]]; a 1992 ''[[New York Times]]'' article about the firm was titled "'Tobacco' Its Middle Name, Law Firm Thrives, for Now."<ref name="nyt1992">{{cite news | first = David | last = Margolick | title = 'Tobacco' Its Middle Name, Law Firm Thrives, for Now | date = 1992-10-20 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/20/news/tobacco-its-middle-name-law-firm-thrives-for-now.html?pagewanted=all | work = The New York Times | access-date = 2012-07-07}}</ref>

In 1992, a federal judge all but accused the firm of orchestrating fraud on behalf of the tobacco industry and exerting [[attorney–client privilege]] to hide facts about tobacco's health hazards during the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="nyt1992"/>

According to Brown & Williamson whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, SHB coached staff at the tobacco company on language that downplayed the health risks of tobacco.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Guardino|first1=Sara D|last2=Daynard|first2=Richard A|date=2007|title=Tobacco industry lawyers as "disease vectors"|journal=Tobacco Control|volume=16|issue=4|pages=224–228|doi=10.1136/tc.2006.018390|issn=0964-4563|pmc=2598535|pmid=17652236}}</ref>

In 2019, the firm launched their [[Cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] practice to address regulatory, employment and litigation matters.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Dornbrook|first=James|date=2019-05-15|title=Shook Hardy launches cannabis practice|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/news/2019/07/15/shook-hardy-bacon-cannabis-practice.html|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-09-16|website=Kansas City Business Journal}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|1=http://www.shb.com/}}
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Shook,_Hardy_%26_Bacon Profile] at [[SourceWatch]]

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[[Category:Law firms established in 1889]]
[[Category:Intellectual property law firms]]
[[Category:Law firms based in Kansas City, Missouri]]
[[Category:Tobacco in the United States]]
[[Category:1889 establishments in Missouri]]