Legal Commentary

"The Transatlantic Elite:" Sixteen Names And Much More

The Lawyer came out this morning with its first-ever Transatlantic Elite, profiling the leading firms on both sides of the pond. 

I'm not aware of a comparable journalistic project, or of one that matches its ambition.  What it's not, first of all, is a financial or numeric ranking:  This is a first attempt to analyze the most high-profile legal market in the world, that of transatlantic providers of absolutely top-end legal services, and the selection criteria include:

• Finances, to be sure, because that is the world we live in;
• Client lists;
• Deal tables and rankings; and
• Talent.

And who are these "Sweet Sixteen" which anchor the Elite? 

• Allen & Overy
• Cleary
• Clifford Chance
• Cravath
• Davis Polk
• Debevoise
• Freshfields
• Kirkland & Ellis
• Latham
• Linklaters
• Simpson Thacher
• Skadden
• Slaughter and May
• Sullivan & Cromwell
• Wachtell
• Weil Gotshal

A diverse group, you may be thinking, at least in terms of strategy?  To be sure.  A handful are following the one-firm-one-office model (Cravath, Slaughters, Wachtell), while others (the Magic Circle) are following the truly international (with deadly serious local law capability) model, and yet others (Cleary, Davis Polk, Simpson Thacher) have clients from across the globe but only selective international offices. 

For all their strategic differences, however, each firm has a pre-eminent position across the New York/London axis.  And if, as one anonymous New York partner puts it, "no one has the perfect barbell yet," these are the heavyweight contenders.

Other sections of the report include:

• Ten who will shape the market
• The M&A Elite
• Finance kings
• The battle for Asia
• And for the Mideast
• And lastly, four firms that missed out:
  • Herbert Smith
  • Jones Day
  • Orrick
  • Shearman & Sterling

It's 52 pages of some of the most intelligent coverage I've read anywhere lately.  Let me know what you think.

Full post as published by Adam Smith, Esq. on May 13, 2008 (boomark / email).