Founded by Marshall Skadden, Les Arps and John Slate on April Fools’ Day in 1948, Skadden began as a scrappy upstart among a sea of established “white shoe” law firms in New York. Joe Flom was hired as the firm’s first associate later that year, and litigator Bill Meagher, the fifth partner to lend his name to the firm’s letterhead as it appears today, joined in 1959.
Our first two decades were marked by slow and steady growth of our client base as we set out to establish ourselves as the go-to firm for our clients’ most complex legal problems. Our willingness to handle proxy fights in the 1950s and early 1960s — matters deemed unseemly by white shoe firms — positioned us to ultimately become the firm of choice for the hostile takeovers that dominated the M&A landscape beginning in the 1970s.
Recognizing the value of providing full-service advice to clients, from day one we sought to develop a range of complementary practices, like litigation, tax and antitrust. Client needs led us to open offices in other cities beginning in 1973, and the volume of work we were handling fueled exponential growth in the number of attorneys at the firm in the 1980s. That growth included a significant expansion of the practices we offered to clients, including restructuring, finance, real estate, mass torts and securities litigation, as well as the opening of offices in Europe and Asia.
In the decades since, we’ve built on that platform to provide advice to clients around the world on their most important matters. Our core values reflect the ideals of our history, and we remain committed to providing excellent lawyering and unrivaled client service in all our work.
Our first two decades were marked by slow and steady growth of our client base as we set out to establish ourselves as the go-to firm for our clients’ most complex legal problems. Our willingness to handle proxy fights in the 1950s and early 1960s — matters deemed unseemly by white shoe firms — positioned us to ultimately become the firm of choice for the hostile takeovers that dominated the M&A landscape beginning in the 1970s.
Recognizing the value of providing full-service advice to clients, from day one we sought to develop a range of complementary practices, like litigation, tax and antitrust. Client needs led us to open offices in other cities beginning in 1973, and the volume of work we were handling fueled exponential growth in the number of attorneys at the firm in the 1980s. That growth included a significant expansion of the practices we offered to clients, including restructuring, finance, real estate, mass torts and securities litigation, as well as the opening of offices in Europe and Asia.
In the decades since, we’ve built on that platform to provide advice to clients around the world on their most important matters. Our core values reflect the ideals of our history, and we remain committed to providing excellent lawyering and unrivaled client service in all our work.
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is a premier law firm with market-leading practices, a global perspective and strong New York roots. Our clients look to us to bring a distinctively high degree of quality, intensity and creativity to resolve legal challenges effectively and cost efficiently.
Deep partner commitment, industry experience and a strategic approach enable us to bring clear commercial judgment to every matter. We draw on the strength of our culture and structure to deliver the best of our firm to every client through true collaboration.
More than 900 lawyers work in nine offices across three continents, within integrated global practices, serving clients around the world. In the last year, our teams advised on matters in more than 90 countries. We are known for developing a deep understanding of the business of our clients, and pursuing every matter with intensity and creativity to achieve optimal results.
We are committed to serving our clients through excellence in lawyering. We receive numerous accolades and awards recognizing this commitment and the firm’s market prominence worldwide.
We believe that an inclusive workforce, where all of our colleagues feel respected, builds a stronger firm, and benefits clients and the wider community.
The firm’s culture fosters a collaborative approach across disciplines and regions, and, as a result, clients benefit from the dedication, cohesiveness and superior quality that we bring to all of our work worldwide.
Deep partner commitment, industry experience and a strategic approach enable us to bring clear commercial judgment to every matter. We draw on the strength of our culture and structure to deliver the best of our firm to every client through true collaboration.
More than 900 lawyers work in nine offices across three continents, within integrated global practices, serving clients around the world. In the last year, our teams advised on matters in more than 90 countries. We are known for developing a deep understanding of the business of our clients, and pursuing every matter with intensity and creativity to achieve optimal results.
We are committed to serving our clients through excellence in lawyering. We receive numerous accolades and awards recognizing this commitment and the firm’s market prominence worldwide.
We believe that an inclusive workforce, where all of our colleagues feel respected, builds a stronger firm, and benefits clients and the wider community.
The firm’s culture fosters a collaborative approach across disciplines and regions, and, as a result, clients benefit from the dedication, cohesiveness and superior quality that we bring to all of our work worldwide.
Always one step ahead
We are considered one of the largest law firms in Brazil, with comprehensive and deep expertise in all areas of law. Founded in 1959, our Firm provides legal services to local and international clients from a wide range of markets, helping them conduct their business in an ethical and efficient manner.
With offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Porto Alegre, we have around 200 lawyers who provide our clients with the knowledge and confidence to deal with Brazil’s laws, legal systems and unique business practices.
We have vast experience in complex and pioneering aspects of transactions, having developed skills that go beyond borders while always maintaining rigor regarding technical quality, ethics and efficiency.
We have a solid governance structure. This ensures agility, control and transparency in decision making, in addition to reducing operational risks and noise between areas and processes. We have an executive committee composed of three senior partners responsible for the Firm’s management. It is and supported by a general director, who in turn is responsible for administrative functions (staff). We also have an independent Compliance and Internal Legal team, which assists the Firm with compliance issues related to internal structures and clients. This team is responsible for risk management as well as for ensuring business ethics.
Through our strategic cooperation with Ablfs McKfnzif, one of the broadest and strongest networks in the legal market, we provide our clients with access to a global perspective. We work collaboratively with lawyers with deep knowledge in various jurisdictions, and we provide support and “insights” to our clients’ operations wherever and however they need it.
We are considered one of the largest law firms in Brazil, with comprehensive and deep expertise in all areas of law. Founded in 1959, our Firm provides legal services to local and international clients from a wide range of markets, helping them conduct their business in an ethical and efficient manner.
With offices in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Porto Alegre, we have around 200 lawyers who provide our clients with the knowledge and confidence to deal with Brazil’s laws, legal systems and unique business practices.
We have vast experience in complex and pioneering aspects of transactions, having developed skills that go beyond borders while always maintaining rigor regarding technical quality, ethics and efficiency.
We have a solid governance structure. This ensures agility, control and transparency in decision making, in addition to reducing operational risks and noise between areas and processes. We have an executive committee composed of three senior partners responsible for the Firm’s management. It is and supported by a general director, who in turn is responsible for administrative functions (staff). We also have an independent Compliance and Internal Legal team, which assists the Firm with compliance issues related to internal structures and clients. This team is responsible for risk management as well as for ensuring business ethics.
Through our strategic cooperation with Ablfs McKfnzif, one of the broadest and strongest networks in the legal market, we provide our clients with access to a global perspective. We work collaboratively with lawyers with deep knowledge in various jurisdictions, and we provide support and “insights” to our clients’ operations wherever and however they need it.
Docket Navigator is a litigation research and analytics platform that delivers deep insights into US federal patent, trademark, copyright, antitrust, securities and trade secret litigation. Based in Texas, Docket Navigator’s unique and innovative approach to modeling court cases in a digital platform has made it a must-have tool for patent litigators in the US, including over 16,000 attorneys, judges, clerks, litigation support firms, expert witness firms, tech companies and researchers. Docket Navigator delivers insights to its subscribers via a daily email called the Docket Report, customised daily alerts, a searchable online database, and powerful analytics tools. Eighty-eight of the AmLaw 100 firms, and 28 of the top 30 ‘busiest’ patent litigation firms (based on the number of patent cases filed each year) maintain subscriptions to Docket Navigator.
Law.com provides lawyers within the world’s leading law firms and legal departments (Global 200, Law.com subscribers, GCs at the F1000) with news and analysis of the global legal industry, insights into what’s happening across all sectors of the legal industry in all major markets around the world. Law.com is the world’s legal authority, offering quality local coverage with global insights & trends on the entire legal industry to give international lawyers the competitive edge and business intelligence needed to grow their business worldwide
Lexology delivers the most comprehensive source of international legal updates, analysis and insights. Publishing in excess of 450 articles every day from over 900 leading law firms and service providers worldwide across over 50 work areas in 25 languages. Lexology’s searchable archive now contains more than 1,000,000 articles. Endorsed by more than 100 associations, corporations and corporate counsel groups, Lexology is not only considered an invaluable resource of its kind, but also regarded as the industry benchmark.
