Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is an American

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The firm is known for corporate law, regularly handling large and complex transactions. On both a profit per lawyer, and profit per equity partner basis, it is the most profitable law firm in the world.

Timeline

*1965 — The firm is founded in New York City. *1970s — Name partner Leonard Rosen participates in securing financing to rescue New York during the 1970s fiscal crisis. *1980 — As part of its growing banking practice, the firm serves 15 lending institutions that loaned money to save

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

. *1981 — The firm acts as legal adviser to

Curtiss-Wright The Curtiss-Wright Corporation is a manufacturer and services provider headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina, with factories and operations in and outside the United States. Created in 1929 from the consolidation of Curtiss, Wright, and v ...

in Curtiss-Wright Corporation v. Kennecott Corporation. *1982 — Name partner Martin Lipton creates the poison pill defense against tender-based

hostile takeovers In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

. *1989 — Name partner George Katz passes away at 57. *2000s — The firm represents the leaseholder of the World Trade Center in trials with its property insurers to secure the funds to rebuild the site after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. *2000s — The firm represents the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

in connection with the rescues of

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...

and

Freddie Mac The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. *2012 — Firm partners help advise

Knight Capital Group The Knight Capital Group was an American global financial services firm engaging in market making, electronic execution, and institutional sales and trading. With its high-frequency trading algorithms Knight was the largest trader in U.S. equiti ...

in securing a $400 million-financing from

Jefferies Group Jefferies Group LLC is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company that is headquartered in New York City. The firm provides clients with capital markets and financial advisory services, institutional br ...

The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate bu ...

Stifel Stifel Financial Corp. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company created under its present name in July 1983 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange on November 24, 1986. Its predecessor company wa ...

, etc. *2018 — The firm nabs the top spot among law firms in the United States in profits per partner with a 2018 PPP of $6,530,000. *2019 — The firm secures the top spot as legal adviser for global

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

, based on dollar value, with a combined $585.3 billion in transactions. *2022 — The firm represents

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in successfully forcing the completion of a $44 billion dollar takeover by

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

History

The firm was founded in 1965 by

Herbert Wachtell Herbert Maurice Wachtell (born May 24, 1932) is an American lawyer. He is the co-founder of the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Education and early career Herbert Maurice Wachtell was born on May 24, 1932 in New York City. His parents we ...

and Jerry Kern, who were shortly afterwards joined by

Martin Lipton Martin Lipton (born June 22, 1931) 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 1958–1 ...

Leonard Rosen Leonard M. Rosen (November 19, 1930 – April 16, 2014) was an American bankruptcy lawyer, and a co-founder of the prominent New York firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.Tiffany Kary, Phil Milford and Linda Sandler, Leonard M. Rosen, Wachtell Lipt ...

, and

George Katz George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

. The four named partners met at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

where they were editors on the ''

New York University Law Review 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 ...

'' together. The firm rose to prominence on

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

when many brokers and investment bankers were launching small firms, but received little attention from established

white-shoe A white-shoe firm is an American term used to describe prestigious professional services firms that have traditionally been associated with the upper-class elite who graduated from Ivy League colleges. The term is most often used to describe leadi ...

law firms, such as

Sullivan & Cromwell Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Known as a white-shoe firm, Sullivan & Cromwell is recognized as a leader in business law, and is known for its impact on international affairs, such a ...

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is an international white shoe law firm headquartered in New York City. The firm specializes in litigation and corporate practices, particularly mergers and acquisitions, with over 1,000 attorneys in 11 offices worl ...

, and

Cravath, Swaine & Moore Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (known as Cravath) is an American white-shoe law firm with its headquarters in New York City, and an additional office in London. The firm is known for its complex and high profile litigation and mergers & acquisitions ...

. One of the founding partners,

, invented the so-called " poison pill defense" during the 1980s, to foil

. Working both sides of mergers and acquisitions, Wachtell Lipton has represented blue-chip clients such as

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfizer ...

, and

JP Morgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the wo ...

. It has had key roles in the resurrection of

in the 1970s, the acquisition of

Getty Oil Getty Oil was an American oil marketing company with its origins as part of the large integrated oil company founded by J. Paul Getty. History J. Paul Getty incorporated Getty Oil in 1942. He had previously worked in the oil fields of Oklaho ...

Texaco Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Indepe ...

, and the negotiation of the master development agreement for the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

after the

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

attacks. The firm is also known for its business

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

, and has represented clients in many of the precedent-setting

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

corporate governance cases. The firm placed #41 on ''

The American Lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.

Profile

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is considered to be the top firm in the United States for major

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

and shareholder litigation and corporate

restructuring Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs. Other reasons ...

s. 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 ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.Cravath scale" market rate for associates. The firm pays its partners through a

lockstep In the United States, lockstep marching or simply lockstep is marching in a very close single file in such a way that the leg of each person in the file moves in the same way and at the same time as the corresponding leg of the person immediately ...

system, meaning that compensation is tied to firm seniority, rather than hours billed or business brought in. The same is true for associate bonuses. This compensation model has led to the firm being called the "last true partnership." The firm is known for its work in

and been ranked #1 in Vault's M&A rankings for more than a decade. Along with

Skadden, Arps Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates is an American multinational law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1948, the firm consistently ranks among the top U.S. law firms by revenue. The company is known for its wor ...

, it was also cited in Malcolm Gladwell's ''Outliers''. By the early 1990s, Wachtell was regarded as the "hardest firm in the U.S. to get a job in." As of 2020, the '' U.S. News & World Report'' has ranked Wachtell as a tier 1 law firm in national and regional rankings in several practice areas: Banking and Finance Law, Corporate Law,

Litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

, and Mergers & Acquisitions.

Notable alumni

William T. Allen William T. Allen (July 17, 1944 – October 13, 2019) 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 W ...

, of counsel — former Chancellor of the

Delaware Court of Chancery The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the American state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court. Since 2018, the court consists of seven judges. The chi ...

;

professor * Anthony J. Casey, associate —

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...

professor * James Cole, partner — Acting Deputy Secretary of Education *

Allison Christians Allison Christians is a tax law scholar and the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law at the McGill University Faculty of Law/Faculté de Droit in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Her research and teaching focus on Canadian and U.S. domestic and internatio ...

, associate — H. Heward Stikeman chair in Taxation,

McGill University Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada, and continually ranks among the best law schools in the world. The faculty is known for it ...

George T. Conway III George Thomas Conway III (born September 2, 1963) is an American lawyer and activist. Conway was considered by President Donald Trump for the position of Solicitor General of the United States, and a post as an assistant attorney general headin ...

, associate and partner — lawyer for

Paula Jones Paula Corbin Jones (born Paula Rosalee Corbin; September 17, 1966) is an American civil servant. A former Arkansas state employee, Jones sued United States President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994. In the initial lawsuit, Jones cite ...

in sexual harassment lawsuit against President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, founder of

The Lincoln Project The Lincoln Project is an American political action committee (PAC) formed in late 2019 by former and current moderate Republicans. During the 2020 presidential election, it aimed to prevent the re-election of Donald Trump and defeat all Rep ...

, husband of

Kellyanne Conway Kellyanne Elizabeth Conway ( née Fitzpatrick; born January 20, 1967) is an American political consultant and pollster, who served as Senior Counselor to the President in the administration of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2020. She was previousl ...

Miguel Estrada Miguel Angel Estrada Castañeda (born September 25, 1961) is a Honduran-American attorney who became embroiled in controversy following his 2001 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Colu ...

— attorney and former judicial nominee *

Glenn Greenwald Glenn Edward Greenwald (born March 6, 1967) is an American journalist, author and lawyer. In 2014, he cofounded ''The Intercept'', of which he was an editor until he resigned in October 2020. Greenwald subsequently started publishing on Substac ...

, associate — political activist, journalist, and

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

recipient * Maura R. Grossman, of counsel — research professor and director of Women in Computer Science at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario Waterloo is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is one of three cities in the Regional Municipality ...

;

electronic discovery Electronic discovery (also ediscovery or e-discovery) refers to discovery in legal proceedings such as litigation, government investigations, or Freedom of Information Act requests, where the information sought is in electronic format (often refe ...

attorney *

Elizabeth Holtzman Elizabeth Holtzman (born August 11, 1941) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York's 16th congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party from 1973 to 1981. She then ...

, associate — former U.S. Representative and Brooklyn District Attorney *

Robert J. Jackson Jr. Robert J. Jackson Jr. (born February 14, 1977) is an American lawyer and academic. He currently serves as a professor of law at New York University School of Law, where he is on public service leave. Jackson's research emphasizes the empirical s ...

, associate —

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

David Lat David Benjamin Lat (born June 19, 1975) 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. Before blogging, Lat attended Harvard College and Yale Law Sc ...

, associate — blogger,

Underneath Their Robes David Benjamin Lat (born June 19, 1975) 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. Before blogging, Lat attended Harvard College and Yale Law Sc ...

and Above the Law *

Kenneth K. Lee Kenneth Kiyul Lee (; born August 30, 1975) is a South Korean-born American lawyer and jurist who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Early life and education Lee was born in 19 ...

, associate — judge,

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts: * District ...

* Matt Levine, associate — attorney, investment banker, and writer * Robert T. Miller, associate —

University of Iowa College of Law The University of Iowa College of Law is the law school of the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. It was founded in 1865. Iowa is ranked the 28th-best law school in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or U ...

professor *

Robert Morgenthau Robert Morris Morgenthau ( ; July 31, 1919July 21, 2019) was an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County (the borough of Manhattan), having previously served as United States Attorn ...

, of counsel — former

New York County District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York (state), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New ...

Bernard Nussbaum Bernard William Nussbaum (March 23, 1937 – March 13, 2022) was an American attorney, best known for having served as White House Counsel under President Bill Clinton. Background Nussbaum, the first child of Jewish immigrants from Poland, was ...

, partner — former

White House Counsel The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...

to President

George Postolos George Postolos (born December 6, 1963) is the president and CEO of the Postolos Group LP, a firm that focuses on advising in sports acquisitions of major league franchises. He was formerly the president of the Houston Rockets and Houston Astros. ...

, associate — former President and CEO of

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

Samuel Rascoff Samuel James Rascoff (born 1973) is an American legal scholar and Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, regarded as an expert in national security law. Rascoff graduated from Harvard University before attending Oxford University a ...

, associate —

professor *

Jed Rubenfeld Jed L. Rubenfeld (born February 15, 1959) is an American lawyer, constitutional scholar, and novelist. He is the Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He is an expert on constitutional law, privacy, and the First Amendment to th ...

, associate —

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

professor *

Andrew Schlafly Andrew Layton Schlafly () (born April 27, 1961) is an American lawyer and Christian conservative activist, and the founder and owner of the wiki encyclopedia project Conservapedia. He is the son of the conservative activist and lawyer Phyllis S ...

, associate — founder of

Conservapedia Conservapedia ( ) is an English-language, wiki-based, online encyclopedia written from a self-described American conservative and fundamentalist Christian point of view. The website was established in 2006 by American homeschool teacher and atto ...

, General Counsel for

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a politically conservative non-profit association that promotes conspiracy theories and medical misinformation, such as HIV/AIDS denialism, the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis, an ...

Richard J. Sullivan Richard Joseph Sullivan (born April 10, 1964) 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 Di ...

, associate — judge,

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

Leo E. Strine, Jr. Leo E. Strine, Jr. (born 1964) 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 ...

, of counsel – former Chief Justice of the

Delaware Supreme Court The Delaware Supreme Court is the sole appellate court in the United States state of Delaware. Because Delaware is a popular haven for corporations, the Court has developed a worldwide reputation as a respected source of corporate law decisions, ...

, Chancellor of the

;

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and olde ...

professor *

Sheena Wright Sheena Wright (born January 6, 1970) is an American nonprofit executive who is the first woman president of the United Way of New York City. In August 2021, she was tapped as the chair of New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams' transition team. On D ...

, associate – former CEO of

United Way United Way is an international network of over 1,800 local nonprofit fundraising affiliates. United Way was the largest nonprofit organization in the United States by donations from the public, prior to 2016. United Way organizations raise funds ...

Deputy Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

under

Eric Adams Eric Leroy Adams (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and retired police captain serving as the 110th mayor of New York City since January 1, 2022. Adams was an officer in the New York City Transit Police and then the New York C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz Law firms based in New York City Law firms established in 1965 1965 establishments in New York City Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Timeline

History

Profile

Notable alumni

See also

References