We are a national law firm of wonderfully diverse, talented individuals who are down-to-earth, yet passionate, about what we do. For over 75 years, we have provided labor and employment services to our clients. In 2023, we expanded our offerings to include cybersecurity and data privacy services, recognizing the essential needs of every business.
Not Your Typical Law Firm
At Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete (pronounced "Kun-STAN-jee, Brooks, Smith, and Profit"), workplace law is at our core—but we’re not your typical national law firm. Our clients tell us there is “a soul to Constangy that is unique and refreshing, that’s not found with other firms.” For more than 75 years, our clients have appreciated our common-sense approach and our commitment to being a real partner in helping employers navigate the prickly legal and regulatory environments of the changing workplace—and now, the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Today, we have more than 230 attorneys across 21 states, providing a full range of labor and employment services—from defending single- and multi-plaintiff discrimination, harassment, and retaliation claims to handling complex wage and hour litigation, workplace safety matters, and affirmative action compliance. Our capabilities also include OSHA, workers’ compensation, ERISA and employee benefits, immigration, and labor relations.
In 2023, we expanded our offerings with a dedicated cybersecurity and data privacy practice, reflecting our commitment to anticipating evolving client needs and helping safeguard businesses in an increasingly digital world.
Constangy represents a wide range of Fortune 500 corporations, small companies, and nonprofit organizations across the country. Our attorneys are consistently rated among the best by sources including Chambers USA, Martindale-Hubbell, and The Best Lawyers in America®, and we are ranked as a Tier 1 firm by the Best Law Firms survey.
What Sets Us Apart
Our lawyers know each other. We like each other. Clients benefit from our agility and a financial structure that allows for cross-office teams with the best mix of lawyers to serve clients. The result is optimal responsiveness and consistent service across all locations.
Are we the biggest firm? No—and that’s by design. We have the depth and experience of our “BigLaw” colleagues, combined with the personal service and deep relationships of a smaller firm. In fact, while we have grown exponentially over the past decade, we have more than 800 clients who have been with us for even longer than that. We are a growing and vibrant firm, yet we respect the heritage and culture that has built us into a unified team providing common-sense, practical, and creative solutions that mitigate risk and help you achieve your business objectives.
We are also known for our commitment to diversity. Clients let us know that diverse teams are important to them—they want to work with lawyers of diverse backgrounds, because they believe such teams reflect their own evolving workforces—and, because lawyers looking through “a wider lens” actually bring more innovative ideas to the table.
Our lawyers are not clones. We come from various backgrounds in terms of geography, economic background, and ethnicity. Some of us are parents and sports fans, and prior HR managers. We are real people just like you and your employees.
What We Do
With a focus on labor and employment law, we have represented management exclusively since 1946. From Title VII to OSHA to ERISA and the NLRA, Constangy attorneys can help you keep policies up-to-date and your workplace running smoothly. We have a full range of experienced attorneys who can help you with everything from developing harassment and workplace safety policies or securing foreign worker visas, to protecting trade secrets and defending against wrongful discharge and discrimination claims. Our cybersecurity and data privacy attorneys offer a range of services for protecting your business-critical data from cyber threats, including compliance assessments, security risk evaluations, incident response planning and management, and adeptly handling class actions resulting from data breaches.
From our roots in labor relations and manufacturing, to our recent work in helping employers understand the convergence of digital technology and security in the modern workplace—our capabilities cover all aspects of the evolving needs of organizations.
National Presence
With more than 230 attorneys and a full complement of paralegal and support staff, Constangy has the ability to work wherever you need, whenever you need. In addition to bar admissions in more than half of the United States, our attorneys regularly appear with permission of the court in jurisdictions nationwide. We also have strong relationships with local counsel in many states, ensuring we can work with clients in locations across the country.
Firm Rankings & Accolades
Professional Excellence
Constangy has an outstanding team of attorneys that distinguishes us. We focus on bringing in the best and the brightest and have recruited many leading minds in employment and labor law.
- Best Law Firms recently ranked us as a national Tier 1 firm in employment law (management), labor law (management), and litigation (labor and employment). In 2024, we also received 35 metropolitan Tier 1 rankings across our offices in various areas relating to employment law.
- 39 Constangy attorneys currently hold Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious AV Preeminent® Peer Review designation.
- 44% of our partners were named in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. We’d stack that percentage up against any competitor.
- 20 of our attorneys were recognized in the 2024 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business®.
- Since 2017, Seramount (formerly Working Mother Magazine) has named Constangy to its list of the 50 Best Law Firms for Women & Diversity.
- For the past eight years (2017-2025), we have been a top 20 firm in Vault.com’s rankings for the best firms for women, minorities and overall diversity.
- For the past seven years (2017-2023), The National Law Journal named Constangy as one of the top 10 firms for women attorneys.
- For the past seven years (2017-2023), The American Lawyer Diversity Scorecard named us as one of the top 100 firms for minorities and a top 5 firm for African American attorneys. In 2023, we ranked in the top 20 firms for overall diversity.
- We were named by Law360 in 2020 as a top 10 mid-size firm (150-299 attorneys) for women attorneys, women partners and women in executive committee leadership.
Our service Commitment
Our Professional Philosophy
- We take a "real-world," practical approach to clients’ legal problems.
- We maintain the highest legal and ethical standards in advising our clients.
- Our clients look at us as partners in their businesses. We listen to the clients, and provide legal advice consistent with their business goals.
- We believe that it is in companies’ best interests to treat their employees morally, ethically and with respect.
- We will look beyond the "symptom" to the "disease." If a legal action appears to have more deep-rooted causes, we will help the client diagnose and cure them.
- We defend our clients vigorously and aggressively. If settlement or alternative dispute resolution appears to be in the client’s interests, we will say so. If the client prefers to settle – usually for economic reasons – we will assist our clients to achieve that aim.
- We make it a point to learn about our clients’ businesses in order to better understand and serve their interests.
Relationships
- We are highly responsive to our clients in all service requests. We return calls and e-mails in a timely manner and try to be accessible under all circumstances. Unlike many firms, we have real, live people answering our telephones during normal business hours so that callers do not wind up in a loop.
- We prefer a long-term "marriage" with our clients. If the client wants us to handle a single, discrete matter, we are glad to assist. But we find that the most beneficial relationships are those based on a knowledgeable, longstanding and trusting relationship between attorney and client.
- We believe that our clients have the right to work with the firm attorneys with whom they feel most comfortable. Our attorneys have a broad and diverse range of backgrounds and experience.
- We value our relationships with all of our clients and provide equal priority to all clients regardless of size or level of services requested.
- We communicate in plain English. "Legalese" is not spoken here.
Billing
- We staff our cases in the most cost-efficient, but effective, manner for the client. We use associates and paralegals whenever they can handle the work competently. We use more experienced attorneys only where warranted by the complexity of the case or other considerations. We do not send multiple lawyers to do what a single lawyer can do. We do not bill the client for associates who are "observing."
- Our bills do not contain hidden "extra" charges, such as copying, long-distance telephone or postage. Our hourly rates are designed to cover all such costs.
- Our bills contain detailed descriptions of the work performed so that the client can make a meaningful assessment of our value.
- We work with a number of Employment Practices Liability Insurance ("EPLI") and cyber insurance carriers and can customize our bills to accommodate their preferences. We can do the same if your company has unique billing needs.
Relationships with Adversaries
- We believe it is in our clients’ best interests for us to have productive and cordial relationships, where possible and appropriate, with opposing counsel.
Firm Successes
- We understand and know that our clients have options in selecting outside counsel to perform labor and employment or cybersecurity and data privacy services. However, our clients stay with us because of our different approach in assisting their risk management objectives and successful results in handling their legal matters.
Mission
For over 75 years, we have provided labor and employment services to our clients. In 2023, we expanded our offerings to include cybersecurity and data privacy services, recognizing the essential needs of every business. Through impeccable and consistent legal service, we strive to obtain the highest levels of success for our clients – success as our clients define it. We empower our lawyers and sustain a culture of trust, respect, and support for lawyers and staff alike. We appreciate the importance of being on the cutting edge of our profession and seek innovation in all areas of our business. Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP is a place where new ideas and solutions to challenges are encouraged, because we recognize how this enhances our performance and optimizes value for those we serve.