Kaye Scholer

Kaye Scholer

Headquarters	New York City
No. of offices	9
No. of attorneys	450+
Major practice areas	General practice
Revenue	N/A
Date founded	1917 (New York City)
Company type	LLP
Website
www.kayescholer.com

Kaye Scholer is a law firm founded in 1917 by Benjamin Kaye and Jacob Scholer. The firm has more than 450 attorneys in nine offices located in the cities of Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, New York (headquarters), Shanghai, Palo Alto, Washington, D.C., and West Palm Beach.

1 Reputation and Recognition
2 History
3 Notable Mandates
4 Noted Alumni
5 References
6 External links

Reputation and Recognition

Kaye Scholer is internationally known for being a leading litigation firm. Its particular areas of litigation strength include antitrust, intellectual property, and products liability. In 2008, Kaye Scholer was named Product Liability Firm of the Year by Chambers and Partners. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, The National Law Journal named Kaye Scholer to its list of top 10 elite litigation defense firms, making Kaye Scholer the only law firm to appear on this list for the three years it had run. In 2006, The American Lawyer magazine selected Kaye Scholer as the products liability litigation firm of the year.

Kaye Scholer also has a well-developed transactional practice, including world-class expertise in aviation, bankruptcy, finance, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and real estate.

In the life sciences arena, Kaye Scholer was recognized in 2010 as “one of the most well regarded firms” for life sciences by The International Who’s Who of Life Sciences Lawyers 2010. Leora Ben-Ami and Steven Glickstein were recognized as two of the 12 “Most Highly Regarded Individuals” in the world — Kaye Scholer was the only law firm with more than one lawyer ranked in this exclusive category. On September 10, 2009, at an awards ceremony in Basel, Switzerland, capping Novartis AG's Global Legal Meeting, Kaye Scholer received the company's first-ever Preferred Provider Award for Excellence.

Kaye Scholer is one of the nation's most profitable large law firms, according to American Lawyer magazine. Kaye Scholer maintains a reputation for being a collegial firm, something of a rarity in law firms of its size and economic success.

History

Founded as in 1917 in New York by Benjamin Kaye and Jacob Scholer. Scholer was a graduate of New York Law School. Kaye was a banking lawyer and noted playwright. The firm was known as Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler for many years.

Kaye Scholer launched in Washington, D.C. in 1980 and now that office employs 50 attorneys.

Charges brought by the Office of Thrift Supervision against the firm in 1992 related to its representation of Charles Keating and his bank, Lincoln Savings and Loan, generated one of the most prominent legal ethics controversies of the decade.^[1]

Kaye Scholer opened an office in West Palm Beach in 1997 where it focuses on real estate and estate planning law.

The firm was the first New York-based law firm to launch in Shanghai in 1998.^[2]

In 2010, the firm opened its ninth office in Silicon Valley. Kaye Scholer's Silicon Valley office offers a full range of legal services to technology companies and private investment firms. From complex intellectual property matters involving patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secret disputes for the software, hardware, computer, electronics, entertainment and movie industries to private and public financings, joint ventures, licensing, acquisitions and fund formations, Kaye Scholer successfully delivers sophisticated, focused and efficient representation to companies throughout Silicon Valley and Northern California.

Following the merger of London-based Clifford Chance and legacy firm Rogers & Wells, Kaye Scholer benefited from a series of key lateral partners in intellectual property and bankruptcy.^[3]^[4]

Notable Mandates

Transactional

Represented Wind Point Partners in multiple acquisitions of consumer products companies, including certain assets of Consolidated Biscuit Company, and on the same day, the Cereal Division of Golden Temple of Oregon, LLC, a leading manufacturer and marketer of all-natural ready-to-eat cereals, bulk granola and granola snacks.
Advised Essie Cosmetics in its agreement to be acquired by L'Oréal USA.
Represented Sandoz in its agreement to acquire Oriel Therapeutics, a privately held US pharmaceuticals company.
Advised Jarden Corporation, a leading provider of niche consumer products used in and around the home, in multiple acquisitions, including its acquisition of the Mapa Spontex baby care and home care businesses of French conglomerate Total S.A.
Represented ASP Westward, a portfolio company of American Securities, and publisher of 60 weekly and daily newspapers, in its acquisition of two East-Texas newspapers from Cox Enterprises Inc.
Represented Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. in connection with the merger agreement with Balfour Beatty plc.
Advised WCI Steel along with Boston law firm McDermott Will & Emery in its acquisition by OAO Severstal in 2008, a transaction valued at $327 million.
Represented Onex Corporation in its acquisition of the Health Group of Eastman Kodak Company for cash consideration of $2.35 billion in 2007.
Counseled Onex Corporation in its acquisition of the Wichita/Tulsa division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes for consideration of $.9 billion in cash in 2005.
Previously represented Onex Corporation and Oaktree Capital Management in their C$2 billion disposal of Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation to Bain Capital in 2004.
Advised Chef America Inc. in its acquisition by Nestle SA for total consideration of $2.6 billion in cash and debt. The deal closed in October 2002.

Litigation

Represented Wyeth in a landmark victory - Wyeth v. Kappos in January 2010, successfully challenging, at the district court level and on appeal, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s interpretation of the statute designed to compensate patent holders for loss of patent term due to delays in processing applications.
Successful defense of Pfizer in Viagra product liability litigation over the past decade; obtaining a long line of summary judgment decisions against claims of various diseases and ailments.
Lead patent counsel for Pfizer in its patent infringement lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. in which Teva attempted to bring a generic version of Celebrex to market.

Noted Alumni

Among Kaye Scholer's alumni are former Senator Abraham Ribicoff, Kenneth Feinberg, Special Master of the U.S. Government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and Brian Leiter, professor of law at the University of Chicago and blogger of the Leiter Reports.^[5]

References

^ William H. Simon, "The Kaye Scholer Affair: The Lawyer's Duty of Candor and the Bar's Temptations of Evasion and Apology" (2006) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-4469.1998.tb00705.x/abstract
^ The Lawyer, 'NYC firm first to Shanghai,' (1998) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=95588
^ The Lawyer, 'Clifford Chance New York rainmaker quits for Kaye' (2003) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=107812
^ The Lawyer, 'CC hit for six by Kaye Scholer NY raid' (2005) http://www.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=114093
^ http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/leiter/

External links

Official Firm Website