Cravath has been known as one of the premier U.S. law firms for two centuries. Each of our practice areas is highly regarded, and our lawyers are recognized around the world for their commitment to the representation of our clients’ interests. Throughout our history, we have played a central role in developing how law is practiced, how lawyers are trained and how business risk is managed. We are not, and do not strive to be, the largest law firm measured by number of offices or lawyers. Our goal is to be the firm of choice for clients with respect to their most challenging legal issues, most significant business transactions and most critical disputes.

At Cravath, we hire only the top students from the nation’s finest law schools, we train our associates through a rigorous rotation of practices, we elevate partners exclusively from within and we compensate partners in a lockstep system throughout their careers. The Cravath model has been adopted by many prominent law firms and consulting firms. While some firms have abandoned the model over time to promote lateral growth and global expansion, we have not. Consistent with our traditional focus on long‑term relationships with our clients, we seek always to provide excellence in client service, without regard to short‑term profit. We believe that maintaining a true partnership of the most talented and broadly trained lawyers is the most effective manner of handling our clients’ legal issues, business transactions and disputes.

Paul Cravath              

The Cravath System

Each Cravath client is served by lawyers steeped in the distinctive traditions and environment of the Cravath System. The hiring, training, compensation and promotion of our lawyers all share a common source and serve the same goal—the efficient and effective representation of our clients’ interests.

Diversity at Cravath

Consistent with our long-held view that excellence and creativity arise from many sources, diversity is a bedrock principle at Cravath.           ‘‘There is no Cravath ‘type’. Yet all share important qualities—intelligence, creativity, work ethic and a desire to excel.’’

Cravath has helped shape, and continues to influence, the world’s business, political, and economic landscapes.            

History

For 200 years, our Firm has been handling the most challenging assignments for the most interesting clients. Throughout our history, we have served our clients by delivering consistently high-quality services.

Our Practices

Quality is the hallmark of our practice. Each of our practice areas is regarded as among the finest in the world.         

Our Lawyers

Our lawyers embrace challenge and practice law with the commitment that has built and sustained our singular reputation for two centuries.            

Pro Bono

Cravath has a long-standing commitment to pro bono work. The full resources of the Firm are brought to bear in support of every pro bono matter.

Latham is dedicated to working with clients to help them achieve their business goals and overcome legal challenges anywhere in the world. From a global platform spanning 14 countries, Latham lawyers help clients succeed.

Devoted to Client Service

Latham is committed to helping clients achieve their business strategies and providing outstanding legal services around the world. Clients depend on the firm to find innovative solutions to complex business issues, and Latham lawyers leverage the firm’s global platform to help clients handle these challenges.

Latham is a single, integrated partnership focused on providing the most collaborative approach to client service. The firm offers:

    Deep experience in successful enterprise-transforming transactions and in defending bet-the-company controversies

    A solutions-based approach, providing innovative and sound commercial advice

    Optimally sized teams that provide cost-effective and high-quality services

    A culture geared toward establishing and nurturing long-term client relationships 

The People

    More than 2,700 lawyers across a global platform spanning 14 countries; Latham lawyers speak more than 60 languages      

The Practice

    Truly a “one-firm” firm – Latham has no headquarters, and firm management is spread throughout the world, allowing Latham to service clients with the best-suited teams regardless of location

    More than 60 international practice groups and industry teams

Commitment to Pro Bono and Community Service

    Latham lawyers and professional staff performed approximately 245,000 hours of pro bono work in 2018 and more than 3.5 million hours between 2000-2018, valued at approximately US$1.6 billion

    Signatory to Pro Bono Institute's global Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge

Women Enriching Business (WEB)

    Our women's initiative promotes business relationships among women and invests in the long-term success of our women lawyers

    WEB has held more than 300 successful events throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia

Latham Sustainability

    Latham's global program seeks to reduce its environmental impact, conserve natural resources and energy, and operate in a sustainable and cost-effective manner

Vendor Code of Conduct

    Our Vendor Code of Conduct helps ensure that the companies and individuals supplying goods or services to our firm uphold sustainable and ethical practices to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Latham & Watkins is committed to supporting the long-term sustainability of the environment. As a global law firm, we approach this responsibility in multiple ways, including environmental stewardship and minimizing the impact of our operations around the world. Sustainability is an ever-evolving discipline and one in which we continue to seek solutions for our firm, our clients, and our communities.

The primary goals of Latham Sustainability are to conserve natural resources and energy, decrease our global carbon footprint, and operate in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.

Greening the Enterprise Globally

As a member of the Law Firm Sustainability Network, we are committed to measuring our environmental impact and implementing best practices firm-wide. We have embarked on programs in all offices to reduce, recycle, and compost all waste to the extent feasible, and we are conducting energy efficiency audits with a view to reducing our energy consumption.

Making an Impact Locally

Latham’s offices have developed a variety of grassroots environmental initiatives. These range from trash cleanup events to using reusable dining products to recycling and composting programs. Fifteen offices hold a LEED or similar green certification. Eleven offices have EV charging stations and 16 offices offer bicycle racks to encourage more earth-friendly commuting practices.

Vendor Code of Conduct

Our Vendor Code of Conduct helps ensure that the companies and individuals supplying goods or services to our firm uphold sustainable and ethical practices to the fullest extent permitted by law. Our sustainability philosophy includes environmental stewardship and minimizing the impact of Latham’s own operations, and we expect the firm’s vendors to work with us to achieve these objectives around the globe.

Pro Bono Efforts

Undertaking pro bono work is a major component of our firm’s culture. We are proud to donate free legal services to an array of individuals and organizations around the world who are acting to protect the environment.

Latham & Watkins has a long-standing commitment to providing pro bono legal services, financial support, and volunteer time to those most in need within our communities.

Latham's dedication to pro bono work is a source of pride and reflects a fundamental part of the firm’s culture. Each year, our lawyers and professional staff take on matters in nearly every area of public interest law, including veterans’ rights, asylum and immigration, domestic violence, Holocaust reparations, anti-human trafficking, prisoners’ rights, microfinance and social entrepreneurialism, children and civil rights.

Why We Do Pro Bono

Latham volunteers thousands of hours of time and expertise to help those who might otherwise be denied access to the legal system.

    As a signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge™, Latham has committed to provide, at minimum, the equivalent of 60 hours per US lawyer per year in pro bono legal services. The firm has surpassed this goal every year since making the commitment.

    Between 2000–2018, Latham provided more than 3.5 million pro bono hours in free legal services to underserved individuals and families and the nonprofit sector valued at approximately US$1.6 billion.

We treat our pro bono work the same as commercial work, applying the same quality standards and treating associate pro bono hours the same as commercial billable hours for purposes of evaluation and bonuses. There is no cap on pro bono hours.

With 22 offices, approximately 1,700 attorneys and 50-plus practice areas, Skadden advises businesses, financial institutions and governmental entities around the world on their most complex, high-profile matters, providing the guidance they need to compete in today’s business environment.

Firm History

Founded by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate on April Fools’ Day in 1948, Skadden began as a scrappy upstart among a sea of established “white shoe” law firms in New York. Joe Flom was hired as the firm’s first associate later that year, and litigator Bill Meagher, the fifth partner to lend his name to the firm’s letterhead as it appears today, joined in 1959.

Our first two decades were marked by slow and steady growth of our client base as we set out to establish ourselves as the go-to firm for our clients’ most complex legal problems. Our willingness to handle proxy fights in the 1950s and early 1960s — matters deemed “ungentlemanly” by white shoe firms — positioned us to ultimately become the firm of choice for the hostile takeovers that dominated the M&A landscape beginning in the 1970s.

Recognizing the value of providing full-service advice to clients, from day one we sought to develop a range of complementary practices, like litigation, tax and antitrust. Client needs led us to open offices in other cities beginning in 1973, and the volume of work we were handling fueled exponential growth in the number of attorneys at the firm in the 1980s. That growth included a significant expansion of the practices we offered to clients, including restructuring, finance, real estate, mass torts and securities litigation, as well as the opening of offices in Europe and Asia.

In the nearly three decades since, we’ve built on that platform to provide advice to clients around the world on their most important matters. Our core values reflect the ideals of our history, and we remain committed to providing excellent lawyering and unrivaled client service in all our work.

Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our success as a global law firm, giving us a wealth of different perspectives from which to address our clients’ most pressing issues across a wide spectrum of industries, geographies and cultures. We strive to develop initiatives at Skadden to specifically address diversity and inclusion goals — including for recruiting, professional development, attorney retention and advancement, and cross-cultural awareness — while also continually inculcating inclusion principles into the fabric of the firm.

This infrastructure includes our global and local Diversity & Inclusion Committees and women’s initiative; the unwavering, visible imprimatur of firm leadership; full-time administrative staff; and mechanisms for input and feedback from our personnel. Most importantly, our diversity and inclusion efforts help foster a community at Skadden that is built on the idea that similarities and differences are a source of our strength.

Diversity and Inclusion

Recognizing that excellence and diversity are inextricably intertwined, Skadden seeks to recruit, retain and promote a diverse group of attorneys and staff throughout the firm.

Diversity & Inclusion Leadership

Skadden’s diversity and inclusion efforts are far-reaching within the firm. Three partners co-chair our global D&I initiative and work closely with local office Diversity & Inclusion Committees, our global women's initiative committee and administrative professionals to develop and sustain recruitment, development and retention strategies intended to increase diversity at all levels of the firm and foster an inclusive workplace culture.

Skadden maintains local Diversity & Inclusion Committees in Asia Pacific (Hong Kong and Tokyo), Europe (London and Brussels) and the U.S. (Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, Washington, D.C. and Wilmington).

Recognition

    For the ninth time in 10 years, named one of the "Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality" by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and received a 100 percent on the 2018 Corporate Equality Index.

    Visa has selected Skadden as a 2017 "All Star Firm" for exemplifying the company's values of "high-quality work, responsiveness and commitment to diversity."

    Named to the ALB 2016 Diversity List, Asian Legal Business' list of 10 law firms in Asia that are promoting a more inclusive workplace.

    In 2019, received the Women in Law Empowerment Forum's Gold Standard Certification for the ninth consecutive year, awarded to "law firms that have integrated women into the highest leadership positions in the firm."

    Cited by The American Lawyer in its 2015 "Diversity Scorecard" for having the highest number of Black/African-American attorneys, the fourth-highest number of Asian-American attorneys and second or fourth-highest number of Hispanic/Latino attorneys of the more than 200 firms that have been listed in the scorecard for the past several years.

    Executive Partner Eric Friedman received the "Diversity & Inclusion Champion Award" from the New York City Bar Association in 2012. He was the only law firm managing partner to receive the award.

    First law firm to receive the NAACP Legal Defense Fund's "Equal Justice Award" for our work and partnership over the years with LDF, particularly under the leadership of Joe Flom and with the Skadden Fellows Program (2011).

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP provides the highest quality legal advice and representation to clients around the world. The results the Firm achieves have set it apart for more than 140 years and have become a model for the modern practice of law. Today, S&C is a leader in each of its core practice areas and in each of its geographic markets.

S&C’s success is the result of the quality of its lawyers, the most broadly and deeply trained collection of attorneys in the world. The Firm’s lawyers work as a single partnership without geographic division. S&C hires the very best law school graduates and trains them to be generalists within broad practice areas. The Firm promotes lawyers to partner almost entirely from among its own associates. The result is a partnership with a unique diversity of experience, exceptional professional judgment and a demonstrated history of innovation.

Clients of the Firm are nearly evenly divided between U.S. and non-U.S. entities. They include industrial and commercial companies; financial institutions; private funds; governments; educational, charitable and cultural institutions; and individuals, estates and trusts. S&C’s client base is exceptionally diverse, a result of the Firm’s extraordinary capacity to tailor work to specific client needs.

S&C comprises more than 875 lawyers who serve clients around the world through a network of 13 offices, located in leading financial centers in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States. The Firm is headquartered in New York.

In 1879, Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson Cromwell founded Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City’s renowned Financial District. Throughout its long history, the Firm has been involved in some of America’s greatest industrial, commercial and financial enterprises, from the formation of Edison General Electric Company in 1882 and United States Steel Corporation in 1901 to its present work with leaders of the global economy in the 21st century.

The Early Years

Domestic and international finance has been at the core of the Firm's work since its inception. Before World War I, S&C represented European bankers and bond syndicates in financing the development of America's railroads and industrial infrastructure. William Cromwell himself proved instrumental in paving the way toward the construction of the Panama Canal.

Heading into the 20th century, as international capital flows diversified and increased, the Firm responded by opening branch offices in Berlin and Buenos Aires. By 1928, S&C's Paris facility was bustling as a full-service office. As the Firm grew during this period of expansion, it developed close relationships with leading financial intermediaries on both sides of the Atlantic. S&C prides itself on continuing these relationships to this day.

The Great Depression and World War II

The Great Depression spawned a burst of government involvement in business affairs and a new wave of business-related litigation. Several businesses called on S&C's expertise to steer them through this trying period, and, before long, the Firm became known for its agility in defending shareholder derivative litigation and antitrust actions. S&C also was a pioneer among law firms to develop expertise in the complex area of federal income tax law.

Beginning with the Securities Act of 1933, the federal government enacted a series of statutes to regulate the investment industry. S&C holds the honor of having prepared the first major registration statement under the Securities Act, and the Firm continues to make substantial contributions to securities offerings and regulation today. During World War II and its political aftermath, S&C lawyers such as noted partners John Foster Dulles and Arthur Dean played important individual roles in helping shape domestic policy and international affairs.

Post-War Growth and Diversification

The explosive growth in the American economy and public sector following World War II fueled a dramatic increase in demand for and diversification of client requirements for legal services. S&C responded by adding steadily to its global practice and pioneering in new areas of legal knowledge and expertise to meet the many new challenges facing its clients.

In the postwar years, S&C’s international practice continued to be closely associated with developments affecting global economic affairs, particularly the ebb and flow of investments among the United States, Europe and the Far East, and the fluctuations in U.S. dollar exchange rates against other currencies. The Firm participated actively in the postwar development of the international capital market in the United States and in the new so-called Eurobond market that emerged in the 1960s. S&C also became the first New York firm during this period to establish, on a permanent basis, a visiting lawyer program for promising non-U.S. lawyers. Today, the program boasts 320 alumni in 42 countries.

Becoming a Global Law Firm

S&C has grown in response to the increasing volume and complexity of its clients' affairs, developing top-ranking practices in mergers and acquisitions, banking regulation, real estate finance, derivatives and private equity, among many other areas. The Firm's work in cross-border capital flows continues to thrive as evidenced by the Firm’s substantial involvement in foreign direct investment and project finance, the development of the euro and other global capital markets, and the financial flows to Asia and Latin America.

Despite its significant growth, the Firm has retained its deep commitment to remaining a unified global practice. Unlike many law firms with a multinational reach, S&C has built its international network of offices, not by acquiring other firms or hiring large numbers of lateral lawyers, but by developing offices to serve clients’ regional needs and staffing those offices with lawyers who have spent their careers at S&C.

As the Firm has expanded, the scope and nature of its practice has afforded S&C the opportunity to retain lawyers in locations more convenient to our clients. S&C opened new U.S. branches in Washington, D.C. (1977), Los Angeles (1984) and Palo Alto (2000). Outside the United States, the Firm reopened its Paris office (which had been closed during World War II) in 1962, and opened new offices in London (1972), Melbourne (1983), Tokyo (1987), Hong Kong (1992), Frankfurt (1995), Beijing (1999), Sydney (2001) and Brussels (2017).

Sullivan & Cromwell is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is vital to the Firm's ability to provide our clients with the highest level of service. Accordingly, the Firm's culture and policies value the unique abilities and perspectives of every individual and support diversity in its broadest sense, including race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability and religious affiliation.

The Firm's Diversity Committee is co-chaired by a member of our Management Committee and the Deputy Managing Partner of the Firm's Litigation department. Other members of the Diversity Committee include the Firm's senior chairman, practice group managing partners, hiring partners, assigning partners, chairs of the Firm's associate affinity networks, and a co-chair of the Women's Initiative Committee. The Diversity Committee – in conjunction with our Diversity Management Department (“DMD”) – is charged with developing, implementing and coordinating the Firm's diversity and inclusion initiatives.  Realizing the importance of an integrated approach, the DMD works closely with our Recruiting, Professional Development and Legal Personnel Departments to monitor the effectiveness of our extensive diversity initiatives and programs to further the Firm's mission.

In addition, our lawyers have diverse backgrounds; they speak over 40 languages fluently and they come from approximately 40 different countries and 150 different law schools.

Get Involved in Pro Bono

Commitment to pro bono work has been a core value of S&C since our founding. Over the years, we’ve helped clients and nonprofit organizations in need, changing lives and making legal history. Today, our pro bono practice spans a wide range of issues and reflects the diversity of our lawyers’ interests.

Our culture of excellence extends to the hundreds of pro bono matters we handle every year. In addition to helping others, pro bono work contributes significantly to our lawyers’ personal and professional development and further sharpens their legal skills. Our pro bono practice includes innovative projects that allow for the type of creative, dynamic lawyering that is the hallmark of our work for corporate clients.

Talk to us about your interest in pro bono. We’re proud of our pro bono work and hope you’ll add your passion and talents to our ongoing efforts to make a difference.

Getting Started

Wondering how you’ll get started? When you arrive at the Firm, you’ll receive a formal introduction to our pro bono practice and the wide variety of available opportunities, led by Jessica Klein, our dedicated pro bono counsel.

Pro bono is a part of our history and we’re committed to making it a part of our future—join us!

Wachtell Lipton was founded on a handshake in 1965 as a small group of lawyers dedicated to providing advice and expertise at the highest levels.

We have achieved extraordinary results following the distinctive vision of our founders — a cohesive team of lawyers intensely focused on solving our clients’ most important problems.

We have experience in the fields of mergers and acquisitions, strategic investments, takeovers and takeover defense, shareholder activism, corporate and securities law and corporate governance. We handle some of the largest, most complex and demanding transactions in the United States and around the world. We counsel both public and private acquirors and targets. We also handle sensitive investigation and litigation matters and corporate restructurings, and counsel boards of directors and senior management in critical situations. We have a track record of original and groundbreaking solutions and innovations that have had a dramatic impact on business and law. We are thought leaders.

Our distinctive structure defines our approach. We maintain a ratio of associates to partners significantly below that of other firms. We focus on matters that require the attention, extensive experience and sophistication of our partners. We limit the number and type of matters we undertake.  Our system of lock-step compensation promotes a careful selection of matters as well as the flexibility to bring the right expertise to bear without regard to factors extrinsic to providing the best service and advice. We work together on a task-force basis on all of our matters, bringing to bear the requisite mix of people and expertise across practice areas. Our structure and approach attract talented and entrepreneurial lawyers, who enable us to achieve excellent results for our clients in complex and critical matters.

Commitment to Pro Bono Work

Wachtell Lipton is committed to supporting attorneys who undertake pro bono projects in all areas of the law.  Pro bono clients are clients of the firm, and no distinction is made between hours spent on pro bono or other client matters.

The firm provides partner supervision, training, and mentoring on all pro bono matters.  Associates are encouraged to attend pro bono training classes and seminars held by our partnering organizations.  In addition, summer associates routinely participate in Wachtell Lipton’s pro bono practice and may be assigned to any pro bono matter.

Recent Representative Matters

Attorneys at Wachtell Lipton have represented pro bono clients in many areas of the law including, civil rights, immigration, criminal defense, nonprofit corporate and tax law, housing rights, real estate, and the arts.  For example, through our work with the Office of the Appellate Defender and on the CJA Panel in the Southern District of New York, our attorneys have represented indigent criminal defendants at trial, plea hearings, sentencing, and appeal; through partnerships with a variety of legal organizations, we have handled many immigration matters; in partnership with Her Justice, our firm has represented a number of indigent women in their family court battles with abusive spouses; we take on prominent public interest matters.  For example, on behalf of the Chief Judge of the State of New York, we represented the state’s judiciary in historic and successful litigation over the state’s failure to increase the pay of its judges since 1999.  We took on one of the earliest cases challenging the military’s policies discriminating against gay service members.  And, we frequently assist nonprofit organizations in a variety of corporate and organizational matters. For example, our attorneys have represented the American Friends of Rambam Medical Center, a 501(c)(3) corporation supporting a major research hospital in northern Israel, in connection with a variety of corporate, compliance and organizational matters.

Community Activities

We are proud of the considerable contributions that Wachtell Lipton has made to the legal profession and the positive impact we have on our community through service on not-for-profit boards, financial support and leadership on numerous philanthropic and public policy causes. In addition, our attorneys have taught courses at law schools including Columbia, Fordham, Harvard, New York University, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and Yale, among others, in fields such as constitutional law, ethics, advanced criminal procedure, deal litigation, legal writing and corporate law.

Diversity

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is strongly committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment that supports the recruitment, retention and advancement of women and men of all backgrounds, at all levels of the Firm.

We are an original signatory to the New York City Bar’s Statement of Goals for Increasing Minority Representation and Retention. The Firm is committed to recruiting a diverse and talented body of lawyers considering diversity in its broadest form.  We were one of the first New York City law firms to offer health benefits to domestic partners and to offer benefits to transgender individuals.

Diversity Committee

The Firm has a Diversity Committee, which provides guidance and recommendations on policies, procedures and specific action steps to meet the Firm’s objectives with regard to diversity and inclusion. The Firm has two full-time professionals who administer the Firm’s diversity initiatives: an Associate Director of Recruiting and Diversity and a Senior Recruiting and Diversity Specialist.

Our Diversity Committee often works in conjunction with our Associate Development Committee to increase development initiatives for all associates.

Diversity Initiatives and Programs

    Since 2009, we have hosted a series of heritage month recognition presentations at the Firm. We have been fortunate to welcome General Counsel of Fortune 500 Companies, Presidents and Directors of prominent public interest groups, Circuit Court Judges and Law School Professors, among others.

    We actively encourage and support affinity group meetings among our attorneys. While informal in nature, these forums have proven to be a good way for attorneys to get together to discuss shared concerns and work toward a common goal. Currently, we have groups that represent our Women, African-American/Black, Asian, Hispanic/Latinx, LGBT, Parents and Veteran attorneys.

    We have administered a 1L Summer Associate Diversity Program for more than 16 years, which has produced a number of full-time associate hires.

    The Firm has been an active participant in various school-sponsored minority job fairs. We are also proud sponsors of the Lavender Law Career Fair. Throughout the year, we are also proud to sponsor and participate in numerous student affinity group activities, panels and conferences at various schools throughout the country.

    We have been a partner firm in the Seizing Every Opportunity (SEO) Corporate Law Intern Program since 2007. A number of these summer interns have gone on to become full-time associates. We also participate in and are benefactors for the Prep for Prep Internship Program and the Legal Outreach Summer Internship Program.

    We are proud to report that we were one of five pilot firms that participated in the NALP/Street Law Legal Diversity Pipeline Program in 2009 and have continued and expanded our involvement in recent years.

    We are a founding member of the Kate Stoneman Project (KSP), whose mission is to provide a forum to address issues regarding the advancement of women in the legal profession. As such we are an active participant in the group’s programming for attorneys and law school students.

    We are sponsoring corporate members of the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL), giving our women attorneys full access to their programming and networking opportunities.

    We are members of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) and have nominated attorneys to participate in their Fellows Program, their 1L Scholars Program and their Pathfinders Program.

Recognition

    In 2018, we were named a Compass Award winner for participation and commitment to all LCLD programming.

    In 2018, we received category honors for Leadership & Promotions by the Yale Law Women’s Top Ten Female and Family Friendly Firms survey, acknowledging that at least 50% of attorneys promoted to equity partner in 2017 were women. In 2014, in the same survey we received category honors for Utilization of Part-Time.