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Angelwings

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[src]

Wolfram & Hart was a powerful international and interdimensional law firm. Wolfram & Hart, and its many incarnations in other dimensions, was a front organization for the Wolf, Ram and Hart, an ancient cabal of demons known as the Senior Partners,[citation needed] who worked through their powerful principal agents in the Circle of the Black Thorn.[1]

Wolfram & Hart offices, such as the Los Angeles branch, were created over unconsecrated grounds.[2] As of 2004, the firm had branches in every major city in the world, as well as satellite offices in many areas of the world where they helped spread oppression and evil.[citation needed]

Due to its supernatural nature, branches of the firm could be rebuilt or restaffed rather quickly, such as when the Los Angeles branch was completely destroyed by the Beast. The entire staff were slaughtered, and the building heavily damaged.[3] Within days, it was back to operating condition with the entire staff replaced.[4]

Operations[]

We are legion. We are forever.
Marcus Hamilton[src]

As a law firm, Wolfram & Hart typically defended unscrupulous but mundane clients, including stalkers,[citation needed] mobsters,[5][6] murderers,[citation needed] and corrupt senators.[1] The firm also represented a number of demonic individuals and groups, as well as dark arts occultists. Marcus Hamilton claimed that the patent holder of cancer was a client of Wolfram & Hart.[citation needed]

While many of their clients were rich or powerful, the firm was also known to work some cases pro bono, especially when it had a secondary interest in the client.[7]

Besides its Legal Department, the firm's exploits extended to other areas, thus it maintained departments of Real Estate, Entertainment, Practical Science, Research and Intelligence, and Interment Acquisitions.[citation needed]

Special Projects[]

In addition to the many legal functions the firm performs, Wolfram & Hart also maintained a Special Projects Division. Special Projects was 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,[7] to hiring assassins to kill individuals deemed threatening to the Senior Partners.[8]

At the Los Angeles branch, Special Projects devoted a considerable amount of attention to Angel. Prophecies indicated that Angel was destined to play a key role in the Apocalypse, but it was not known which side he would take. The Special Projects division was committed to ensuring Angel would be on their side when the prophecy was fulfilled.[citation needed]

Among the resources at the division's disposal, was a heavily-armed Special Operations Team, which carried out kidnapping and the like at the firm's behest.[citation needed]

Human resources[]

Wolfram & Hart was known for its unforgiving treatment of its employees. It was reported that the Senior Partners forced employees to eat their own liver if unhappy with their performance. In another instance, it was reported that several employees were sacked with actual sacks. They have also permitted employees to execute and replace their superiors in light of poor performance. Knox told Fred that, on at least one occasion, they fired an employee by setting him on fire.[citation needed]

Every 75 years, the firm conducted a review of its employees. During the review, a Senior Partner took corporeal form to punish employees who showed unfavorable performance. Many employees lived in fear of the review and, in the days preceding it, did whatever they could to endear themselves to the Senior Partners, including animal and human sacrifices.[9]

The firm also conducted random sweeps of employees, using telepaths to find workers who were disloyal to the company they pledged to work for. When discovered, these individuals could be executed on the spot. However, departmental heads at Wolfram & Hart could use discretion when dealing with insubordination; if a manager thought highly enough of an employee, they could decide to forgo punishment in favor of a second chance.[8]

Wolfram & Hart's employees often had a Standard Perpetuity Clause in their contracts, meaning they remained with the firm even after their deaths and could be sent in undead form to perform tasks for the firm on Earth.[citation needed]

Since many of the employees and clients of Wolfram & Hart were non-human, many amenities were offered within the building, including special catering for non-traditional palates. This included blood being kept "on tap" for those who needed it,[citation needed] and a variety of animal bloods were offered after Angel's group took over operations.[6] All the windows in the building were made of necrotempered glass, which blocked the fatal effects of sunlight so vampires could walk around free of worry throughout the day, as W&H maintained relatively traditional working hours.[4]

According to Harmony, there were also "non-human resources."[citation needed]

Offices on Earth[]

Wolfram & Hart held several offices throughout the Earth, specially in large cities and in conflict areas.[citation needed] Some of their offices were exact copies of each other, inside[10][11][12] and outside.[13][12]

  • Balkans branch[citation needed]
  • Berlin branch[14]
  • Boston branch[citation needed]
  • Cairo branch[citation needed]
  • Chicago branch[citation needed]
  • Las Vegas branch[13]
  • London branch[citation needed]
  • Los Angeles branch[citation needed]
  • Muncie branch[14]
  • New York branch[citation needed]
  • Paris branch[citation needed]
  • Rome branch[10]
  • San Francisco branch[citation needed]
  • Silicon Valley branch[12]
  • Singapore branch[14]
  • Tibet branch[citation needed]

In 2004, after being double crossed by Angel, the Senior Partners sent the Los Angeles branch, along with Los Angeles in its entirety, to a Hell dimension.[15] However, when Angel was killed, the Partners were forced reverse time to before they damned L.A.; this was because Angel was destined to play a pivotal role in the apocalypse and they wanted him on their side. When Los Angeles was restored, the Los Angeles branch no longer existed and its site was to be replaced with a Doublemeat Palace.[16]

Oddly enough, the Las Vegas branch of Wolfram & Hart was not a law firm, but a casino.[13]

Wolfram & Hart was aware of prophecies predicting a coming dimensional upheaval caused by Twilight. When they learnt that they were not players in the coming apocalypse, the Senior Partners instructed Lilah Morgan to find a spaceship fitted for interdimensional transport so they could evacuate the Earth dimension.[17] The firm also funded the development of the social networking site TinCan using demonic technology, in the hopes of creating a lasting gateway back to Earth in the event.[18] Spike pursued the Senior Partners in a pod which had been ejected from their ship to learn more; he was unable to find them.[19]

The coming crisis resulted in the end of magic, and the Senior Partners were only able to contact demons that remained in Earth through TinCan. The site's founder, Theo Daniels, hired the Slayer private security firm DeepScan to protect him from the firm's assassins. Wolfram & Hart won the assistance of ancient demon Eldre Koh by promising him the identity of his imprisoner;[18] however, Koh was bested by the Slayers Buffy Summers and Kennedy, leaving the Senior Partners stranded in an alternate dimension.[20]

When Buffy reformed a third Magic Council, Lilah offered to represent its members Count Dracula and Archduchess Venobia.[21]

The White Room[]

Main article: White Room

Within the Wolfram & Hart buildings, one could enter the White Room. This was an interdimensional space that served as a way to contact the Senior Partners. It was the most direct line to them, but it required speaking through an intermediary, the Conduit.[2] The Room was accessed by pressing a certain sequence of buttons on an elevator panel; if conditions were met, the elevator doors opened and a bright light transported the occupants to the White Room.[22]

When Angel first visited the room, it was occupied by a girl named Mesektet, the most malevolent member of the Ra-Tet, a family of mystic beings.[22] When Wolfram & Hart fell under siege by the Beast, Angel and his group found their only refuge in the White Room; they arrived just in time to see the Beast draining the dark energies from Mesektet, killing her. Before her death, she transported the group back to the Hyperion Hotel before the Beast could kill them too.[3]

When the employees of Angel Investigations were offered positions at Wolfram & Hart, Gunn was taken to the White Room as part of his personalized tour.[4] The new form of the Conduit was determined by the viewer,[23] and a black leopard greeted Gunn.[4] During his tenure with Wolfram & Hart, Gunn made use of the Conduit when he had exhausted all other resources. When Gunn visited in search of a way to save Fred's life, he encountered a mirror image of himself, who beat him for his insolence in using the Room for his own convenience.[23]

Other dimensions[]

I'm familiar with your firm — in this and... other dimensions.
Sahjhan[src]

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

The region of the extradimensional world of Pylea was ruled by priests known as the Covenant of Trombli. This group possessed a trio of holy texts emblazoned with a wolf, a ram, and a hart respectively. The Covenant was overthrown;[citation needed] however, Angel told Spike that "Wolfram & Hart has branches in every city in the world and a lot more out of it."[23] Additionally, lawyer Lilah Morgan was able to obtain an unaltered copy of Rhinehardt's Compendium on the pandimensional black market.[24]

Another branch of the firm was located in the extradimensional world of Anharra.[25] The staff alerted Lilah about the presence of Dawn and Xander in the dimension, and she proposed to help them escape it. They refused her, knowing the sinister reputation of the law firm,[26] though they were unaware that she had planted a tracker on them, with their rejection part of Lilah's plan with a third party.[27]

Prominent lawyers[]

  • Holland Manners: He was head of Special Projects and later was promoted to Chief Executive Officer at Wolfram & Hart until his death.[citation needed]
  • Lindsey McDonald: A promising young junior partner turned co-head of the Special Projects division in the wake of Holland's death. Though he had a habit of switching to the winning team, he left Wolfram & Hart only to come back with a vendetta.[citation needed] He was killed by Lorne.[28]
  • Lilah Morgan: Promoted to co-head of Special Projects with Lindsey, Lilah was always one step behind her co-adviser. When Lindsey left, she was promoted as sole adviser of Special Projects until her death.[citation needed]
  • Lee Mercer: A junior partner along with Lindsey and Lilah, Holland had him killed by a Wolfram & Hart security officer after mind readers determined that Mercer was in secret talks with rival firm, Klein & Gabler. He had planned to leave Wolfram & Hart and take clients with him.[8]
  • Nathan Reed: Lilah and Lindsey's superior after Holland's death.[citation needed]
  • Gavin Park: Reassigned to Special Projects from Real Estate, Gavin sought to sully Lilah's reputation. He died when the Beast broke his neck. He was reanimated as a zombie, but decapitated by Gunn.[citation needed]
  • Linwood Murrow: In charge of Wolfram & Hart's operation concerning Angel's allegiance in the apocalypse, he spearheaded the unsuccessful capture of Angel's son.[citation needed] He was executed and replaced by Lilah with the approval of a Senior Partner.[29]
  • Charles Gunn: Having been implanted with knowledge of the law, Charles became the head of Wolfram & Hart's legal department.[citation needed]

Clients[]

Behind the scenes[]

  • Despite being the primary antagonists of the show, almost all the major characters on Angel worked for Wolfram & Hart at some point. Angel, Wesley, Gunn, Fred, and Lorne each take over a division starting in season 5, along with Harmony as Angel's secretary. Additionally, Spike, Faith, Darla, Drusilla, Connor, and Illyria each are hired by or carry out orders for Wolfram & Hart. The only major characters that do not directly work for the company are Doyle and Cordelia; interestingly, these are Angel's two connections to the Powers That Be.
  • In the video game All-Pro Football 2K8, the football team Chicago Beasts have Wolfram & Hart as their home stadium, a reference to the Buffyverse Wolfram & Hart.
  • The film Avengers: Age of Ultron, written and directed by Joss Whedon, features masks of a wolf, a ram, and a hart in Thor's vision of Asgard, another reference to Wolfram & Hart.

Appearances[]

References[]

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