America's Best Corporate Lawyers
from Legal 2001
More than ever before, board members are being forced to face up to all kinds of legal situations and challenges. And with the growing complexity of shareholder suits, globalization, and the Internet, they often need to look beyond in-house counsel for help. Our exclusive survey names the 20 best firms in the U.S. and the top five firms in 50 metropolitan areas. Since qualitative differences among those firms are negligible in many areas, the listings are alphabetical.
THE TOP 20 FIRMS
1. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, New York
2. Cravath, Swaine, & Moore, New York
3. Sullivan & Cromwell, New York
4. Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Cleveland
5. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York
6. Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York
7. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Los Angeles
8. Baker & McKenzie, Chicago
9. Latham & Watkins, Los Angeles
10. Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago
11. Shearman & Sterling, New York
12. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Palo Alto
13. O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Los Angeles
14. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Chicago
15. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York
16. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, New York
17. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York
18. Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C.
19. Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C.
20. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, Dallas
They have represented nations, heads of state, and a roster of corporations from the aristocrats of the Fortune 500 to scrappy start-ups. Though snug in individual identities that range from white shoe to dot-com casual, the 20 top law firms in our national rankings share important characteristics—among them, quality, consistency, and competitive ferocity.
Corporate Board Member used various methodologies to identify these 20 champions and the five firms that lead their profession in each of 50 metropolitan areas. First, we surveyed 32,500 members of corporate boards across America, asking them to identify the firms they most admire—nationally and in their hometowns. We measured these firms against other sources of data, including Law.com’s rankings and lists compiled by The Yellow Book of Leaders and the National Law Journal. Thus, in determining our own list of winners—nationally and locally—we considered how clients and the legal media perceive the firm, its ability to attract top clients such as board members, and—significantly—its landmark or notable cases.
Skadden, Arps, for example, which heads our national list, is not only a master of mergers and acquisitions, but has done milestone work in lease financing and has handled privatization of companies owned by the governments of more than 40 nations, including China, Russia, Malaysia, Finland, and the U.S. Its attorneys have worked for such high-profile clients as former President Bill Clinton, the National Football League, and Major League Baseball. The firm’s lineup of government heavy hitters is studded with former power players from Congress, the U.S. departments of Justice and Treasury, and an alphabet of regulators, including the FTC, FCC, EPA, and SEC.
Founded in 1819, Cravath, Swaine & Moore boasts that “from the creation of the railroad to the creation of the New Economy, Cravath has been at the center of the most important deals in the world.” Among other accomplishments this year, Cravath represented Time Warner during its record $103.5 billion merger with AOL and assisted Agere Systems in its spin-off from Lucent Technologies and its $3.6 billion initial public offering. Cravath also has made headlines in First Amendment defenses through the years, including the settlement it obtained for CBS when the network was sued for defamation by General William C. Westmoreland, who commanded U.S. forces in Vietnam.
Led by chairman H. Rodgin Cohen, Sullivan & Cromwell is a powerhouse in banking, public offerings, and M&A. “You can try a bank merger without Rodgin Cohen,” Institutional Investor magazine once wrote, “but you might regret it.” Sullivan & Cromwell was attorney for Dime Savings Bank in its recent $5.2 billion acquisition by Washington Mutual and regularly represents Goldman Sachs. With a history dating from 1879, the venerable firm was involved in the 1882 start-up of Edison General Electric Co. and the 1901 launch of U.S. Steel.
Providing service across a wide range of practice areas, Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue is attorney for about half of the Fortune 500, including AOL, General Motors, IBM, and RJR Nabisco. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is home to legendary M&A innovator Martin Lipton (for more, see “12 Superstars,” which begins on page 102). He made the firm the place to call if you want to combat a hostile takeover. Over the past two years Wachtell has represented Motorola, AT&T, and Warner-Lambert, among others, in M&A deals, and Michael Jordan in his negotiations to become chief of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards.
Davis Polk & Wardwell lists a similar array of blue-chip corporate clients, including Comcast, Exxon Mobil, Ford, Roche, and KPMG Peat Marwick. Davis Polk won a jury verdict in favor of KPMG when it was sued by investors alleging that the company had been lax in detecting trading irregularities by a mutual fund it was auditing. The jury deliberated less than two hours before exonerating KPMG in October 2000, and the National Law Journal cited the case as the “top defense win of the year.”
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represents American Airlines, among other top companies, from 11 offices worldwide. Baker & McKenzie operates globally from 61 offices on behalf of major players such as Walt Disney, the Mexican financial giant Banorte, and Taiwan High Speed Rail. It was named Best International Law Firm at this year’s Australian Law Awards ceremony.
Nissan, 3M, Monsanto, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Ernst & Young are on Latham & Watkins’ diversified client list. Co-founder Dana Latham, commissioner of Internal Revenue during the Eisenhower administration, set the standards for a tax law practice that remains one of the nation’s best. A recent cabinet member, Clinton’s Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, has helped the firm earn esteem as one of the country’s strongest environmental law groups.
Kirkland & Ellis has been in the national news for its defense of Brown & Williamson in Big Tobacco litigation. Shearman & Sterling has made headlines on two continents this year with its representation of the French bank Société Générale in the acquisition of TCW Group Inc. and the Dutch media company VNU NV in the acquisition of market researcher ACNielsen Corp. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati continues to attract attention as the leading dealmaker in the technology industry. (Partner Larry Sonsini is also one of our Superstars.)
Former Secretary of State Warren Christopher is among the senior partners at prestigious O’Melveny & Myers, a Los Angeles landmark firm since 1885. Not only does O’Melveny work for elite, prosperous companies such as Sony, Walt Disney, and Time Inc., its pro bono program has piled up a string of victories for immigrants seeking political asylum in the U.S. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood has been involved in political issues, too, representing the nonprofit Violence Policy Center in its fight to preserve federal waiting periods on firearm purchases. The firm was created from a merger this year between Sidley & Austin, founded in Chicago in 1866, and Brown & Wood, launched in New York in 1914. Citigroup and AT&T are two top clients.
The New York Times heralded it as “a landmark decision” when Simpson Thacher & Bartlett won a pro bono case in January for a consortium of groups representing the interests of New York City public school students. The court ordered the New York State Legislature to remedy inequities in school funding formulas so that they will more fairly serve the students. Four months later, in another milestone case, Simpson Thacher won a U.S. Supreme Court verdict for disabled golfer Casey Martin. The Court ruled that under the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Martin is legally entitled to ride in a golf cart between shots at Professional Golf Association tournaments.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison was in the news this year with its victory for songwriters and publishers who sued to stop Napster from helping online users obtain copyrighted music free of charge. Paul, Weiss also represented British Telecommunications in a $10 billion global joint venture with AT&T, and Spear, Leeds & Kellogg in its $6.5 billion merger with Goldman Sachs.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, which has two partners among our Superstars—Ira M. Millstein and Harvey R. Miller—maintained its preeminence in the fields of corporate governance and bankruptcy law. Arnold & Porter was named the best antitrust law firm in North America by Chambers & Partners, publisher of the prestigious directory Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers. Attorneys from both firms were praised by the National Law Journal for pro bono work. Arnold & Porter’s Lynda Clarizio was cited for “hammering out a landmark agreement to end sweatshops around the globe” through negotiations with consumer groups, labor unions, and apparel companies. Weil, Gotshal’s Katherine Mulhern received recognition for her successful four-year fight to win asylum for a Somalian refugee, Abdirizak Ibrahim.
Covington & Burling boasts high-profile clients (Bank of America, Microsoft, and the National Football League), high-profile partners (former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Stuart E. Eizenstat), and high-profile triumphs (12 in a row in the U.S. Supreme Court). Akin Gump does, too, numbering Clinton First Friend Vernon E. Jordan Jr. and former Speaker of the House Thomas S. Foley among its attorneys and Coca-Cola among the companies it serves. The firm scored a big win for Coke last year in getting a summary judgment against PepsiCo’s claim that Coca-Cola had a monopoly on soft drink fountain syrup distributed through independent food service suppliers.
