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TOP 5 LAW FIRMS |
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Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz: A prominent law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (WLRK) was founded in New York City in 1965 by Herbert Wachtell, Martin Lipton, Leonard Rosen, and George Katz, four graduates from the New York University School of Law. Per partner, WLRK is the most profitable large law practice in the world. The firm’s recruitment program is exceptionally selective: its summer classes run to a few dozen of the top applicants from eminent law schools. WLRK associates usually receive higher pay than those from other American firms.
Highly regarded for its skill in mergers and acquisitions, WLRK has worked both sides of the field. The so-called “poison pill” defense against hostile takeovers was conceived in the 1980s by founding partner Martin Lipton.
WLRK is noted for business litigation also. The firm has e.g. provided counseling in many of the corporate governance cases in Delaware, USA, where court decisions have set landmark precedents. Videos showing another founding partner, Herb Wachtell, arguing cases in court are used in law school classes to illustrate effective trial advocacy.
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TOP 2 |
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Cravath: Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (Cravath) is a prestigious American law firm with its headquarters in New York City and another office in London. Founded in 1819, it is among the oldest law practices in the USA. Cravath regularly takes first place among the most esteemed firms in the world according to “Partner Prestige Rankings,” a survey of legal partners.
The firm stems from old two law practices, one in New York City and the other in Auburn, New York. The two merged in 1854 to form the firm of Blatchford, Seward & Griswold. Subsequently, partner Samuel Blatchford was called to the United States Supreme Court, and partner William H. Seward was governor as well as senator for New York, serving as Secretary of State under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. In 1867, Seward negotiated “Seward’s Folly,” as the purchase of Alaska from Russia was derisively called by some contemporaries. Paul Drennan Cravath entered the firm in 1899. His “Cravath System,” a training program for associates, rotates them among the firm’s partners within a given area of practice. The firm adopted the name Cravath, Swaine & Moore in 1944.
Cravath has remained relatively small in contrast to rival practices like Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Its 500-odd lawyers are based mainly in the New York office; just a few dozen work from the London office, opened in 1973. The firm maintained an office in Hong Kong from 1994 to 2003, one in Paris from 1927 to 1934 and again from 1963 to 1981, and one in Washington, DC from 1924 until 1946. The last evolved into Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering; a predecessor of WilmerHale LLP, another American law practice, which now employs around 1000 lawyers. |
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TOP 3 |
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Sullivan & Cromwell LLP: Sullivan & Cromwell LLP (S&C) is an international law firm based in New York and founded by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell in 1879. It has approximately 800 lawyers in 12 offices, in financial centers throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and the USA. The practice is consistently ranked among the world’s most prestigious law firms.
Throughout its long history, S&C was closely involved with some of America’s – and now the world’s – greatest industrial, commercial, and financial enterprises: from the formation of Edison General Electric Co in 1882 and United States Steel Corp in 1901 up to the present day, where S&C maintains close relationships with leaders of the global economy. The firm even played an instrumental role in the construction of the Panama Canal, as chronicled in David McCullough’s book “The Path Between the Seas.”
S&C has undertaken steady growth over the past 35 years in deliberate response to the rising volume and complexity of their clients’ business. The firm has developed leading practices in mergers and acquisitions, banking regulations, real-estate finance, derivatives, and private equity, among other areas.
Following in the footsteps of partners John Foster Dulles andArthur Dean, since 1970 S&C chairmen John Stevenson, John Merow, and Ricardo Mestres have all focused on adding new locations to the firm’s practice in the USA and around the world. |
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TOP 4 |
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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher : Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (often shortened to Skadden Arps; Skadden; or SASM&F), is a prominent law firm that is based in New York City and was founded in 1948. It has over 2,000 attorneys and is one of the largest and highest-grossing law firms worldwide. the firm is organized as a limited liability partnership (LLP) in most jurisdictions, Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, Chelsea Football Club’s Chairman Bruce Buck, and comedian Greg Giraldo are all well-known personalities who worked for SASM&F. |
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TOP 5 |
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Davis Polk & Wardwell: Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (DP&W) is an international law firm that is based in New York. The firm has over 800 attorneys and it is particularly well known for providing corporate, litigation, and tax counsel. DP&W, counted among the world’s most prestigious law practices, represents many of the largest companies and financial institutions in the world; and surveys consistently place it among the best in very diverse areas of practice.
DP&W has its roots in the practice of Gunthrie, Bangs & Van Sinderen, founded in 1849 by Francis S Bangs. The firm’s name changed its partners did, e.g. from Bangs, Stetson, Tracy, and McVeigh, to Stetson, Jennings & Russell. The present name of the firm stems from three 20th-century partners: John W. Davis, Frank Polk, and Allen Wardwell.
Among other high-profile lawyers, Grover Cleveland was a member of the firm from 1889 to 1893 between his two terms as US president. DP&W was located at 15 Broad Street, near Wall Street, from around 1889 until 1959. |
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