Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, typically shortened to Skadden, is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. The company is known for its work on company mergers and takeovers.
History
The firm was founded in 1948 in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate and Les Arps. In 1959, William R. Meagher joined the firm and Elizabeth Head, the firm's first female attorney, was hired. In 1960, the firm's name became Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. In 1961, Peter Mullen, who later served as Skadden's first executive partner, joined the firm.
In 1973, the firm opened its second office in Boston. In 1981, Peggy L. Kerr became Skadden's first female partner. In 1985, Skadden was ranked as one of the three largest law firms in the United States.
In 1987, the firm opened its first international office in Tokyo. In 1988, the Skadden Fellowship Foundation was created. Skadden's New York City headquarters moved to 4 Times Square, the "Condé Nast Building" in 2000. Together with the City College of New York, Skadden launched the Skadden, Arps Honors Program in 2008, with the goal of increasing diversity in law schools and the legal profession. , Skadden has 21 offices worldwide.
Key people
In February 2011, there were 432 Skadden partners worldwide. As of December 2016, there were 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. In January 2020, there were 349 partners worldwide. Notable partners include:
Stephen C. Robinson, former federal district court judge sitting in the U.S. District Court for the SDNY; former U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut Patrick B. Fitzgerald, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; as special counsel for the Department of Justice, the federal prosecutor in charge of the investigation of the Valerie Plame Affair Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., commissioner of Internal Revenue (1989–92), assistant secretary for tax policy in the Department of the Treasury in 1992 Mark N. Kaplan, former CEO of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Engelhard Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center
Rankings
In 2015 and 2016, Skadden was the fourth largest law firm in the U.S. by revenue. In the 2015 Global 100 survey by The American Lawyer, Skadden ranked as the fourth-highest grossing law firm in the world. In 2016, Skadden had approximately 1,700 attorneys in 22 offices; in 2011, the firm had approximately 1,900 attorneys in 23 offices. Measured by the number of attorneys, Skadden is the fifth largest law firm in New York and 12th largest in the United States. In 2016, Skadden was 187th on Forbes list of America's Largest Private Companies by revenue. Previously, the firm ranked 335th in 1995, 194th in 2003 and 213th in 2010. In 2015, Skadden became the first law firm ever to handle more than $1 trillion in M&A deals in a single year and, for the third time in six years, the Financial Times "Innovative Lawyers" report named Skadden the most innovative law firm in North America.
Other work
Russia and Ukraine
Skadden has a history of representing clients with ties to the Vladimir Putin regime in Russia, such as Alfa Bank, Roman Abramovich, and Viktor F. Yanukovych's pro-Russian regime in Ukraine. In 2020, the firm paid a $4.6 million settlement for misleading U.S. authorities regarding its lobbying on behalf of a Russia-aligned Ukrainian government.