Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates

Headquarters	4 Times Square New York City United States[1]
No. of offices	22
No. of attorneys	Approximately 1,700 [2]
No. of employees	3,500 (estimate, including partners)
Major practice areas	Transactions, litigation/controversy and regulatory[3]
Key people	Eric J. Friedman[4] Executive partner Claudia I. Joyce[5] Executive director / Strategy Noah J. Puntus[6] Executive director / CFO
Revenue	US$ 2.41 billion (2015) [7]
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 an international law firm based in New York City. With approximately 1,700 attorneys, it is one of the highest-grossing law firms in the world.^[8] Forbes magazine has called Skadden "Wall Street's most powerful law firm." The firm has been ranked "America's Best Corporate Law Firm" in Corporate Board Member's survey of public company directors every year since 2001.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 1948 — The firm is founded in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate and Les Arps.^[11]
• 1959 — William Meagher joins the firm. Elizabeth Head, the firm's first female attorney, is hired.^[11]
• 1960 — The firm's name becomes Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.^[11]
• 1961 — Peter Mullen, who will later serve as Skadden's first executive partner, joins the firm.^[12]
• 1973 — The firm opens its second office, in Boston.^[11]
• 1981 — Peggy L. Kerr becomes Skadden's first female partner.^[13]
• 1985 — Skadden ranks as one of the U.S.'s three largest law firms.^[11]
• 1987 — The firm opens its first international office, in Tokyo.^[11]
• 1988 — The firm founds the Skadden Fellowship Foundation.^[11]
• 2000 — Skadden's New York City headquarters moves to 4 Times Square, the "Condé Nast Building."^[11]
• 2008 — With the City College of New York, the firm launches the Skadden, Arps Honors Program, to increase diversity in law schools and the legal profession.^[14]
• 2011 — Joseph Flom, the last living name partner, dies.^[15]
• 2014 — The firm opens its 23rd office, in Seoul.^[16]
• 2015 — Skadden becomes the first law firm to advise on more than $1 trillion worth of deals in a single year.^[17]

Locations

As of December 2016, Skadden has 22 offices worldwide.^[18]

Key people

In February 2011, there were 432 Skadden partners worldwide.^[19] As of December 2016, there are 381 partners worldwide. 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.^[20] Among the more notable partners, of counsel and counsel are:

• Eileen T. Nugent,^[21] co-global leader of the firm's transaction practices.
• Scott V. Simpson,^[22] co-global leader of the firm's transaction practices.
• David M. Zornow,^[23] global leader of the firm's litigation/controversy practices.
• David M. Rievman,^[24] global leader of the firm's regulatory practices.
• Thomas H. Kennedy,^[25] Global Leader of the firm's Knowledge Strategy.
• Gregory B. Craig, former White House counsel to President Barack Obama.^[26]
• Judge Stephen C. Robinson, former federal district court judge sitting in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.^[27]
• Patrick B. Fitzgerald, former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and, 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.^[28]
• Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., commissioner of Internal Revenue from 1989–92, Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy in the United States Department of the Treasury in 1992.^[29]

Rankings

Skadden's world headquarters in the Condé Nast Building

In 2015 and 2016, Skadden was the fourth largest law firm in the U.S. by revenue.^[30] In the 2015 Global 100 survey by The American Lawyer, Skadden ranked as the fourth highest grossing law firm in the world.^[31] In 2016, Skadden had approximately 1,700 attorneys in 22 offices;^[31] in 2011, the firm had approximately 1,900 attorneys in 23 offices.^[32] Measured by the number of attorneys, Skadden is the fifth largest law firm in New York and 12th largest in the United States.^[31][33] In 2016, Skadden was 187th on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies by revenue.^[34] Previously, the firm ranked 335th^[35] in 1995, 194th^[36] in 2003 and 213th in 2010.^[37] Based on the 2017 Vault Law 100 survey of law firm associates by Vault.com, Skadden is the third most prestigious U.S. firm at which to work.^[38] The NYSE Governance Services and advisory firm FTI Consulting named Skadden the top U.S. law firm in 2016, a position held by the firm since 2001; the annual findings are published by Corporate Board Member in its list of "America's Best Corporate Law Firms."^[39][40] In 2015, Skadden became the first law firm ever to handle more than $1 trillion in M&A deals in a single year^[41][42] and, for the third time in six years, the Financial Times' "Innovative Lawyers" report named Skadden the most innovative law firm in North America.^[43][44][45] In the 2016 edition of Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business, Skadden received the most top rankings among law firms, including 67 Band 1 attorney rankings, 35 Band 1 practice rankings and five Star Individual rankings.^[46][47]

Other work

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 in honor of the firm's 40th anniversary. The Los Angeles Times has called the program "a legal Peace Corps."^[48] Fellows work with a sponsoring organization that provides legal services to the poor, elderly, homeless, disabled and disenfranchised. Skadden pays fellows a salary of $52,000 (as of 2016),^[49] plus all the fringe benefits the sponsoring organization offers its employees. Through 2016, the firm has awarded 791 fellowships.^[50] Since the program's inception, nearly 90 percent of its fellows have remained in public interest or public sector work.^[51]

Political contributions

Skadden partners and employees tend to support and contribute more to Democratic political candidates than to Republicans.^[52] Prominent lawyers at the firm endorsed and financially supported John Kerry in his campaign to become president of the United States in 2004.^[53][54] In the run-up to Super Tuesday 2008, Skadden hosted a phone bank in support of Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.^[55][56]

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Skadden was one of the top law firms contributing to federal candidates during the 2012 election cycle, donating $1.98 million, 76% to Democrats.^[57] By comparison, during that same period Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld donated $2.56 million, 66% to Democrats^[57] and oil conglomerate ExxonMobil donated $2.66 million, 88% to Republicans.^[58] From 1990 through 2008, Skadden contributed $11.93 million to federal campaigns; between 2000 and 2008 the firm spent $2.2 million on lobbying.^[59]

Notable alumni

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

• Amelia Boone, obstacle racer, 2012 Spartan Race World Champion and three-time Tough Mudder champion
• Bruce M. Buck, chairman Chelsea Football Club
• George B. Daniels, judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (2000–)
• Robert Del Tufo, former New Jersey Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey
• John Feerick, former dean of Fordham University School of Law
• Chip Flowers, first African-American elected official in Delaware (state treasurer) and co-chair, National Democratic State Treasurers (2010-2014)^[60]
• Keith Gottfried, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2005–)
• Judge Judith S. Kaye, longest-tenured chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals, serving from 1993-2008
• Robert S. Pirie, co-chairman and CEO of Rothschild, North America, senior managing director of Bear Stearns & Co., and vice-chairman of Investment Banking at SG Cowen Securities Corporation
• Douglas Rediker, executive chairman of International Capital Strategies; former U.S. alternate executive director, International Monetary Fund (2010–2012)
• Irving S. Shapiro, former CEO, DuPont
• Mary L. Smith, principal deputy director and acting agency head of Indian Health Service; former official, United States Department of Justice Civil Division; former nominee, assistant attorney general, United States Department of Justice, Tax Division
• 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
• Robert W. Sweet, judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (1978–1991, senior status 1991–)
• William H. Timbers, former judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1971–1981, senior status 1981–1994); Chief Judge (1964–1971), judge (1960–1971), U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
• Stephen Vaughn, former acting United States Trade Representative (USTR) and USTR general counsel^[61]
• Harold M. Williams, former chair, Securities and Exchange Commission (1977–1981)

References

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.

External links

• Official website
• Skadden Fellowship Foundation
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom companies grouped at OpenCorporates