Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
Headquarters	Condé Nast Building New York City United States
No. of offices	23
No. of attorneys	1,886 [1]
No. of employees	4,500 (estimate)
Major practice areas	Mergers and acquisitions, litigation and arbitration, corporate finance, corporate restructuring, securities law, banking, project finance, energy and infrastructure, antitrust, tax and intellectual property, among others[2]
Revenue	US$ 2.17 billion (2011)[3]
Date founded	April 1, 1948
Founder	Marshall Skadden, John Slate, and Les Arps
Company type	Limited liability partnership
Website
www.skadden.com

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates (often shortened to Skadden Arps; Skadden; or SASM&F), founded in 1948, is a law firm based in New York City. With nearly 2,000 attorneys, it is one of the largest,^[4] most prestigious^[5] and highest-grossing law firms in the world.^[6] Forbes magazine called Skadden "Wall Street's most powerful law firm," and the firm has been named as America's best Corporate Law firm every year since 2001.^[7][8]

Skadden's world headquarters in the Condé Nast Building, Times Square, New York

In 2010, Skadden was the second largest law firm in the world by revenue with US$2.1 billion in gross revenue.^[6][9] Skadden had about 1,886^[1] attorneys in 23 offices in 2011.^[10] The total number of employees at the firm is nearly 4,200. Measured by the number of attorneys, Skadden is the second-largest law firm in the state of New York, the sixth largest in the United States.^[1] In 2010, the National Law Journal ranked Skadden 6th in its list of the 250 largest law firms in the United States. In 1995, Forbes's Largest Private Companies ranked Skadden as 335th^[11] on the list of the largest private U.S. companies by revenue. By 2003 Skadden had risen to 194th^[12] before falling back to 213th^[13] in 2010.

Reputation

It is, according to some measures, the third most prestigious law firm to work for in the United States (Rankings Vault, 2015),^[14] and according to the advisory firm FTI Consulting, Skadden has been named as the America's best Corporate Law firm in 2013 (a position held since 2001).^[7] Although called a sweatshop by some,^[15] Skadden is also known for its generous attorney compensation. Like other top national firms, it pays its first-year associates $160,000. This does not include the annual discretionary bonus.^[16] Glassdoor reports that Skadden is the highest paying company in the U.S.^[17]

The firm’s reputation was affected when it “compiled a largely sympathetic report in 2012” on the Ukrainian government’s jailing of Yulia Tymoshenko, “a former prime minister and the president’s chief political opponent, even though most impartial observers say it was politically motivated.”^[18]

In 2014, the firm agreed to pay a $4.24 million settlement to a bankruptcy trustee for the firm's role as counsel for Buddy Fletcher and his hedge fund operations.^[19]

Key people

As of February 2011, there are 432 partners at Skadden.^[20] Unlike some firms that have introduced two-tier partnerships with equity and non-equity partners, Skadden maintains a one-tier partnership, in which all partners are equity partners and share ownership of the firm.^[21] Among the more notable partners and Counsel are:

• Greg Craig, former White House Counsel to President Barack Obama, heads the firm's global policy and litigation strategy group.
• Judith Kaye, former Chief Judge of the State of New York, is of counsel, and in March 2010 was tapped to lead the investigation of New York Governor David Paterson.
• Bruce Buck, chairman of Chelsea Football Club, partner in charge of firm's European offices.^[22]
• Stephen C. Robinson, former federal district court judge sitting in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and former United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.^[23]
• Patrick Fitzgerald, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois who was, as special counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel, the federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair.^[24]

History

• 1948 — The firm was founded in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate and Les Arps.
• 1954 — Joseph Flom became a partner.
• 1959 — William Meagher joined the firm. Elizabeth Head, the firm's first female attorney, was hired.
• 1961 — The firm's name became Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
• 1973 — The firm opened its Boston office, the firm's second.
• 1981 — Peggy Kerr became the first female partner.
• 1985 — Skadden became one of the U.S.'s three largest law firms.
• 1987 — The firm opened its first international office in Tokyo.
• 1988 — The firm founded the Skadden Fellowship Foundation.
• 2000 — New York City headquarters moved to Four Times Square, also called the Condé Nast Building.
• 2011 — Joseph Flom, the last living name partner, dies.

Locations

As of April 2014, Skadden has 23 offices worldwide.^[25]

Skadden Fellowship Foundation

Through the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, the firm sponsors law school graduates who wish to practice public interest law. The foundation was established in 1988 at the time of the firm's 40th anniversary. The Los Angeles Times has called the program "a legal Peace Corps."^[26] Fellows work with a sponsoring organization in the field of providing legal services to the poor, the elderly, the homeless, the disabled, and the disenfranchised. Skadden pays fellows a salary of $46,000 (as of 2006), plus all fringe benefits the sponsoring organization offers its employees. As of 2006, the firm has awarded 473 fellowships.^[26]

Notable alumni

In addition to numerous professors and partners, both at Skadden and other firms, some of the more notable former Skadden attorneys include:

• Cyrus Amir-Mokri, current Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions of the U.S. Treasury Department.
• Preeta D. Bansal, former General Counsel for the federal Office of Management and Budget; former Solicitor General of the State of New York
• George B. Daniels, judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (2000–)
• Mark Filip, former Acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States; former judge, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

• Greg Giraldo, international comedian
• Robert Reynolds, manager of multi-platinum, international recording artists The Killers and Brandon Flowers
• Irving S. Shapiro, former CEO, DuPont
• Eliot Spitzer, former Governor of New York,^[27] and his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer^[28]
• Leo Strine, Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court (2014-present); previously Chancellor (2011–2014) and Vice-Chancellor (1998–2011) of the Delaware Court of Chancery
• Laura Ingraham, conservative talk radio host
• Chad S. Johnson, former President of the Stonewall Democrats
• Faryar Shirzad, Managing Director and Global Head of Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs
• Keith Gottfried, General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2005–)
• John Feerick, former Dean of Fordham University School of Law
• Robert Del Tufo, former New Jersey Attorney General
• Douglas Rediker, U.S. Alternate Executive Director, International Monetary Fund (2010–)
• Mary L. Smith, current official, United States Department of Justice Civil Division; former nominee, Assistant Attorney General, United States Department of Justice Tax Division
• Robert W. Sweet, judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (1978–, senior status 1991–)
• William H. Timbers, former judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1971–1981, senior status 1981–1994); Chief Judge (1964–1971), judge (1960–1971), United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

Political contributions

Skadden partners and employees tend to support and contribute more to Democratic political candidates than to Republicans.^[29]

Prominent lawyers at the firm endorsed and financially supported John Kerry in his campaign to become president of the United States in 2004.^[30][31]

In the run-up to Super Tuesday, 2008, Skadden hosted a phone bank in support of Barack Obama.^[32][33]

• Thomson Financial League Tables

Further reading

• Caplan, Lincoln (1993). Skadden: Power, Money, and the Rise of a Legal Empire. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 0-374-26566-6. 
• "How Skadden Does It", Andrew Longstreth, The American Lawyer, May 2006.

References

External links

• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates Web Site
• Skadden Fellowship Foundation
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom companies grouped at OpenCorporates