Wolfram & Hart

"Our firm has always been here in one form or another. The Inquisition, the Khmer Rouge -- we were here the first time a caveman clubbed his neighbor and watched in fascination as his brains oozed out in the dirt. We're in the hearts and minds of every living human being [...] The world doesn't work in spite of evil, Angel. It works with us. It works because of us."

- Holland Manners

Wolfram & Hart, Attorneys at Law is a powerful international and interdimensional law firm, and presumably the biggest and most powerful one on Earth. Wolfram & Hart, and its many incarnations in other dimensions, is actually a front organization for the Wolf, Ram and Hart, an ancient cabal of demons known euphemistically as the "Senior Partners" who work through their powerful principal agents&mdash;the Circle of the Black Thorn.

Wolfram and Hart branches, such as the L.A. office shown in Angel, are created over unconsecrated ground. As of 2004, the firm has branches in every major city in the world, as well as satellite offices in many areas of the world where they help spread oppression and evil. The only other branch shown on Angel was the Rome branch, called Wolfram e Hart.

Due to its supernatural nature, branches of the firm can be rebuilt or restaffed rather quickly--such as when the L.A. branch was completely destroyed by the Beast. The entire staff--according to Lilah, even employees out sick--was slaughtered and the building heavily damaged. Within days, it was back to operating condition with the entire staff replaced.

Operations
"We are legion. We are forever."

- Marcus Hamilton

As a law firm, Wolfram & Hart typically defends unscrupulous and detestable clients, including stalkers, mobsters, murderers, and corrupt senators - and those are the mundane ones. The firm also represents a number of demonic individuals and groups, as well as dark arts occultists. While many of their clients are rich or powerful, the firm is also known to work some cases pro bono, especially when it has a secondary interest in the client. Besides its Legal Department, the firm's exploits extend to other areas, thus it maintains departments of Real Estate; Entertainment; Science; Research and Intelligence; and Internment Acquisitions (the firm's term for grave robbery). The current status of Wolfram & Hart operations is unknown - following the Senior Partners' reversal of time to return L.A. from Hell and thus undo Angel's death, the L.A. building is found to have disappeared from the face of the Earth.

Special Projects
In addition to the many legal functions the firm performs, Wolfram & Hart also maintains a Special Projects Division. Special Projects is responsible for a wide range of activities, from sponsoring high-profile charity events with the intention of stealing upwards of 95% of the funds raised, to hiring assassins to kill individuals deemed threatening to the Senior Partners. At the Los Angeles branch, Special Projects devotes a considerable amount of attention to Angel. Prophecies indicate that Angel is destined to play a key role in the Apocalypse, but it is not known which side he will take. The Special Projects division is committed to ensuring Angel will be on their side when the prophecy is fulfilled. Among the resources at the division's disposal is a heavily-armed special ops team, which carries out operations such as kidnapping at the firm's behest. Marcus Hamilton claims that the patent holder of cancer is a client of Wolfram & Hart.

Human Resources
Wolfram & Hart is known for its unforgiving treatment of its employees. The firm conducts random sweeps of employees, using telepaths to find workers who are disloyal to the company they pledged to work for. When discovered, these individuals are often executed on the spot. It has been reported that the Senior Partners have forced employees to eat their own liver if unhappy with their performance. In another instance, it was reported that when several employees were sacked, actual sacks were used. They have also permitted employees to execute and replace their superiors in light of poor performance. In one instance, Knox told Fred that they once not only fired an employee, but literally set him on fire. ("We fired him. No, wait, we set him on fire.")

Every 75 years, the firm conducts a review of its employees. During the Review, a Senior Partner takes corporeal form to punish employees who have shown unfavorable performance. Many employees live in fear of the Review, and in the days preceding it do whatever they can to endear themselves to the Senior Partners, including animal and human sacrifices.

However, departmental heads at Wolfram & Hart can use discretion when dealing with insubordination. If a manager thinks highly enough of an employee, he or she may decide to forego punishment in favor of a second chance.

Wolfram & Hart's employees often have a "perpetuity clause" in their contracts, meaning they remain with the firm even after their deaths and can be sent in undead form to perform tasks for the firm on Earth - Lilah Morgan and Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, for instance.

As mentioned by Harmony Kendall, there are also non-Human resources.

In 2004, after being double crossed by Angel, the firm sent the L.A. branch (along with L.A. in its entirety) to a Hell dimension.

Offices on Earth

 * See: Wolfram & Hart (Los Angeles Branch)
 * See: Wolfram & Hart (Rome Branch)

The White Room
Within the Wolfram & Hart solicitor's building, one can enter 'The White Room'. This is an interdimensional space that serves as a "Conduit" to the Senior Partners - it is the most direct line to them, but it requires speaking through an intermediary. The 'Room' is accessed by pressing a certain sequence of buttons on an elevator panel. If conditions are met, the elevator doors open and a blinding light transports the occupants to the White Room.

When it is first visited by Angel, the room is occupied by a small girl named Mesektet, the most malevolent member of the Ra-Tet, a family of mystic beings. When Angel visits the Room looking for the demon Sahjhan, the girl offers a brief history on the demon. When Wolfram & Hart falls under siege by The Beast, Angel and his group find their only refuge in the White Room; they arrive just in time to see The Beast draining the dark energies from Mesektet, killing her. Before her death, she transports the group back to the Hyperion Hotel before The Beast can kill them too.

When the employees of Angel Investigations are offered positions at Wolfram & Hart, Charles Gunn is taken to the White Room as part of his personalized tour. To his surprise, he is greeted by a black leopard; the new Conduit's form is determined by the viewer. During his tenure with Wolfram & Hart, Gunn makes use of the Conduit when he has exhausted all other resources. When Gunn visits in search of a way to save Fred's life, he encounters a mirror image of himself, who viciously beats him for his insolence in using the Room for his own convenience.

Other Dimensions
"I'm familiar with your firm -- in this and... other dimensions."

- Sahjhan

In addition to its operations on Earth, Wolfram & Hart maintains a presence in a number of other dimensions.

The region of the extradimensional world of Pylea visited by Angel Investigations is ruled by priests known as the Covenant of Trombli. This group possesses a trio of holy texts emblazoned with a wolf, a ram, and a hart (red male deer) respectively. The Covenant has since been overthrown, and the full extent of Wolfram & Hart's influence on Pylea or in other dimensions is unknown; however, Angel tells Spike in "A Hole in the World" that "Wolfram and Hart has branches in every city in the world... and a lot more out of it". Lawyver Liliah Morgan was able to obtain an unaltered copy of Rhinehardt's Compendium on the pandimensional black market.

Main Lawyers

 * Holland Manners (First seen: "Blind Date"). Head of Special Projects for Wolfram & Hart before his death in season 2.
 * Lindsey McDonald (First seen: "City of"). A promising young junior partner turned co-head of the Special Projects division in the wake of Holland's death. Though he has a habit of switching to the winning team, he left Wolfram & Hart only to come back in season 5 with a vendetta.
 * Lilah Morgan (First seen: "The Ring"). Promoted to co-head of Special Projects with Lindsay, Lilah was always one step behind her co-advisor. When Lindsay left, she was promoted as sole adviser of S.P. until her death in season 4.
 * Lee Mercer (First seen: "Sense & Sensitivity"). A junior partner along with Lindsay and Lilah in the early stages, he was killed by a Wolfram & Hart security officer after Holland Manners nodded the order to do so - mind readers determined that Mercer was in secret talks with rival firm Klein & Gabler. He had planned to leave Wolfram and Hart and take clients with him.
 * Nathan Reed (First seen: "Blood Money"). Lilah and Lindsay's new superior after Holland's death.
 * Gavin Park (First seen: "Over the Rainbow"). Reassigned to S.P from Real Estate, Gavin sought to sully Lilah's reputation. He died in the 4th season.
 * Linwood Murrow (First seen: "Quickening"). In charge of W & H's operation concerning Angel's allegiance in the apocalypse, he spearheaded the unsuccessful capture of Angel's son. Executed and replaced by Lilah in "Deep Down" with the approval of a Senior Partner.
 * Charles Gunn (First seen: "Conviction"). Having been implanted with knowledge of the law, Charles became the head of W & H's legal department in season 5.

Clients

 * Russell Winters: "City of"
 * Dr. Ronald Miltzer: "I Fall to Pieces", Kate mentions W&H represented him.
 * Anthony "Little Tony" Papizian: "Sense & Sensitivity".
 * Darin and Jack MacNamara: "The Ring".
 * an unnamed mobster: "Five by Five".
 * Vanessa Brewer: "Blind Date".
 * Anne Steele: "Blood Money".
 * Irv Kraigle, CEO of LyCorp: "Dead End".
 * Congressman Nathan Blim: "Billy".
 * Billy Blim: "Billy".
 * Corbin Fries: "Conviction".
 * Magnus Hainsley: "Just Rewards".
 * Tobias Dupree: "Harm's Way".
 * Emil and his boss: "Lineage": W&H doesn't provide legal representation, but they do supply weaponry to Emil's boss.
 * Greenway: mentioned in "You're Welcome".
 * Fell Brethren: "The Girl in Question"
 * Senator Helen Brucker: "Power Play"
 * Joseph Kennedy (mentioned in "Conviction")
 * George Bush Sr. (mentioned in "Conviction")

Trivia
The location used for the exterior of Wolfram and Hart is the Sony Pictures Plaza in Culver City, California.