This article contains promotional content .(March 2022) |
Headquarters | CBS Building New York City, New York, U.S. |
---|---|
No. of offices | 1 |
No. of attorneys | 265 [1] |
Major practice areas | General practice |
Revenue | US$1.13 billion (2023) [1] |
Profit per equity partner | US$8.51 million (2023) [1] |
Date founded | 1965 |
Founders | |
Company type | General partnership |
Website | www |
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (known as Wachtell Lipton or Wachtell) is an American white-shoe law firm in New York City. [2] While many peer law firms have grown and become international brands, Wachtell has only a single, Manhattan office. It is one of the smallest firms in the AmLaw 100, but has the highest per partner profits of any law firm and pays significantly above the "Cravath scale" market rate for associates. [3]
The firm was founded in 1965 by Herbert Wachtell and Jerry Kern, who were shortly afterwards joined by Martin Lipton, Leonard Rosen, and George Katz. [4] The four named partners met at New York University School of Law where they were editors on the New York University Law Review together. [5] The firm rose to prominence on Wall Street when many brokers and investment bankers were launching small firms, but received little attention from established white-shoe law firms, such as Sullivan & Cromwell, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, and Cravath, Swaine & Moore. [4]
One of the founding partners, Martin Lipton, invented the so-called "poison pill defense" during the 1980s, to foil hostile takeovers. [4] Working both sides of mergers and acquisitions, Wachtell Lipton has represented blue-chip clients such as AT&T, Pfizer, and JP Morgan Chase. [6] It has had key roles in the resurrection of Chrysler in the 1970s, the acquisition of Getty Oil by Texaco, and the negotiation of the master development agreement for the World Trade Center after the September 11, 2001 attacks. [2] The firm is also known for its business litigation, and has represented clients in many of the precedent-setting Delaware corporate governance cases. [7]
The firm placed #41 on The American Lawyer's 2021 AmLaw 200 ranking. In the 2021 Global 200 survey, Wachtell Lipton Rosen Katz ranked as the 50th highest grossing law firm in the world. [1]
In November 2023, amid a wave of alleged antisemitic incidents at elite U.S. law schools, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was among a group of major law firms who sent a letter to top law school deans warning them that an escalation in incidents targeting Jewish students would have corporate hiring consequences. The letter said "We look to you to ensure your students who hope to join our firms after graduation are prepared to be an active part of workplace communities that have zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses." [8]
Martin Lipton is an American lawyer, a founding partner of the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in advising on mergers and acquisitions and matters affecting corporate policy and strategy. From 1958–1978 he taught courses on Federal Regulation of Securities and Corporation Law as a lecturer and adjunct professor of law at New York University School of Law.
In the United States, white-shoe firm is a term used to describe prestigious professional services firms that have been traditionally associated with the upper-class elite who graduated from Ivy League colleges. The term comes from white buckskin derby shoes (bucks), once the style among the men from the upper class. The term is most often used to describe leading old-line law firms and Wall Street financial institutions, as well as accounting firms that are over a century old, typically in New York City and Boston. As Ivy League elites, it implied that there was also a cultural homogeneity associated with White Anglo-Saxon Protestant men, but the term is now used more as a matter of long-established, high-end firms, especially those working in complicated business matters.
Bernard William Nussbaum was an American attorney, best known for having served as White House Counsel under President Bill Clinton.
David Benjamin Lat is an American lawyer, author, and legal commentator. Lat is the founder of Above the Law, a website about law firms and the legal profession.
The New York University Law Review is a bimonthly general law review covering legal scholarship in all areas, including legal theory and policy, environmental law, legal history, and international law. The journal was established in 1924 as a collaborative effort between law students and members of the local bar. Its first editor-in-chief was Paul D. Kaufman. Between 1924 and 1950, it was at various times known as the Annual Review of the Law School of New York University and the New York University Law Quarterly Review before obtaining its current name in 1950.
Shea & Gould was one of New York's best-known law firms. It was established as a result of a merger in 1964 between the firm Manning, Hollinger & Shea and Gallup, and the firm Climenko & Gould. Then in the 1970s the firm acquired several smaller niche practices in antitrust and other areas. It dissolved in 1994.
Leo E. Strine, Jr. is an American attorney and retired judge for the state of Delaware. He served on the Delaware Court of Chancery as vice chancellor from 1998 to 2011 and chancellor from 2011 to 2014, and as the chief justice of the Delaware Supreme Court from 2014 to 2019. Strine joined Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in 2020.
The Tulane Corporate Law Institute is an annual two-day M&A and corporate law conference that takes place in downtown New Orleans every spring. It attracts the most high-profile lawyers and bankers from around the United States, as well as judges, journalists, and others who follow the dealmaking world. The event typically takes place on a Thursday and Friday in late March or early April, at a prominent Canal Street hotel.
Herbert Maurice Wachtell is an American lawyer. He is the co-founder of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Richard Joseph Sullivan is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was formerly a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2007 to 2018. He has been a member of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization.
The Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship is a full-tuition public service scholarship for students at New York University School of Law. It is widely considered to be the most prestigious public interest scholarship for law students in the United States.
Boris Bershteyn is an Obama administration official who until June 2013 had served as acting Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. He previously served from 2011 to 2012 as general counsel for the federal Office of Management and Budget. Prior to his work at the Office of Management and Budget, he served as an Associate White House Counsel.
William T. Allen was a professor of corporate law at New York University law school, and the Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery from 1985 to 1997. He also worked for the bank and business law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Leonard M. Rosen was an American bankruptcy lawyer, and a co-founder of the prominent New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
James Cole Jr. is an American attorney who served as the acting Deputy Secretary of Education from 2016 to 2017, serving under the Obama administration.
Brent James McIntosh is an American attorney who served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs from 2017 to 2019. He previously served as General Counsel of the United States Treasury. Prior to his government service, McIntosh was a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell and was co-head of the firm's cybersecurity practice. Mcintosh is now Citigroup's Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary.
Kenneth Kiyul Lee is a South Korean-born American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Miriam Elizabeth "Mimi" Rocah is an American attorney currently serving as District Attorney for Westchester County, New York. In 2020, Rocah defeated incumbent Democrat Anthony Scarpino in a primary challenge and went on to win in the General election.
Jerome H. Kern is an American lawyer, investment banker, consultant, and philanthropist. Kern was one of the founding members of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. After a career in investment banking, he served as a senior partner of Shea & Gould, then at Baker Botts, while holding senior leadership positions at Tele-Communications Inc. In the early 2000s, he was CEO of Linkshare, On Command, and Playboy. He was also chairman and CEO of Colorado Symphony and is currently a senior advisor to Moelis & Company.
I worked at one of the last remaining unlimited-liability partnerships in the biglaw business.