Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is a law firm in New York City. Wachtell is considered one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States along with Sullivan & Cromwell and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. It is consistently among the most profitable large law firms in the world on a per-partner basis according to the American Lawyer's annual AmLaw 100 Survey. The firm also ranks at the top of other various surveys, including the Vault.com Associates Survey and was ranked as the #1 Most Prestigious Law Firm to Work For by the AveryIndex [1]. Wachtell is generally considered one of the most difficult law firms at which to get a job: summer classes at Wachtell number in the low dozens and are almost exclusively composed of the strongest applicants from top law schools. Its associates are generally paid substantially more than associates at any other firm in the country. The firm is smaller, and has a lower partner to associate ratio, than many of its peer firms, such as Sullivan & Cromwell and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
The firm is known for its skill in mergers and acquisitions. One of the founding partners, Martin ("Marty") Lipton invented the so-called "poison pill defense" during the 1980s to foil hostile takeovers. Working both sides of the mergers and acquisitions game, Wachtell Lipton has represented blue-chip clients like AT&T, Kraft, and JP Morgan Chase.
The firm is also known for its skill in business litigation. It has handled many of the precedent-setting Delaware corporate governance cases. One of their most recent clients is Larry Silverstein, owner of the two 110-story towers of the World Trade Center. Videos of another one of the founding partners, Herb Wachtell, arguing cases in the courtroom are shown in law school classes as examples of effective trial advocacy.
[edit] Famous alumni
The author Glenn Greenwald, blogger David Lat (associate), Harvard Law Professors John Coates (partner) and Guhan Subramanian (summer associate), Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld (associate) and former Houston Rockets President and CEO George Postolos (associate) each formerly worked at Wachtell.
