Dowd, thereby obtaining a health care practice. In 1978, Reed Smith merged with Philadelphia law firm, Townsend Elliott & Munson (which was founded in 1842 by prominent Philadelphia citizen, Joseph B. Townsend whose pro bono accomplishments included being Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, Chairman of the Board of Jefferson Medical College, and a Board Manager of Pennsylvania Hospital - see his papers in archives of University of Delaware). Reed Smith opened new offices in New York and New Jersey in the 1990s and acquired a Northern Virginia firm, Hazel & Thomas. During the 2000s Reed Smith experienced rapid international growth. Acquiring the UK law firm Warner Cranston turned Reed Smith transatlantic in 2001 and it opened offices in Paris and Munich four years later. It opened an office in Delaware and combined with a California law firm, Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May, which moved the firm to among the 20 largest law firms in the US. In 2007 Reed Smith merged with UK law firm, Richards Butler, which added offices in France, Greece, the Middle East and Hong Kong. According to market analyst Adviser Rankings the total market capitalization of Reed Smith's stock market clients in the United Kingdom is the third highest of all US-law firms. The firm counsels 13 of the world's 15 largest commercial and savings banks; 25 of the world's 35 largest oil and gas companies; and the world's three largest pharmaceutical distribution and wholesale companies. Reed Smith opened their second German office in 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany's financial center, to meet growing client demand in the German market. In 2016, Reed Smith entered into a formal alliance with Singapore firm Resource Law. A year later the firm opened a new office in Miami. On April 30, 2018 Reed Smith hired Lewis Zirogiannis (General Electric's former Chief Compliance Officer) as a partner for its global regulatory enforcement practice in San Francisco. In 2018, Reed Smith hired 14 lawyers from competitor Norton Rose Fulbright and added a new office in Austin, Texas. In January 2020, the firm hired technology, M&A and private equity lawyer Craig Lilly. Lilly previously led Greenberg Traurig’s Silicon Valley corporate practice group. Recognition According to Chambers USA, the firm services clients in matters of bankruptcy, insurance, finance, M&A, labor and employment, and more general litigation, across various industries, including entertainment and media, life sciences, shipping and finance, and has been awarded 43