Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Designation: International
- Head Count: 1,252
- Gross Revenues: $1,131,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $905,000
- Profits Per Partner: $2,685,000
- Year Over Year Change: no change
Perhaps it’s no surprise that Cleary’s Manhattan headquarters offers a stunning 360–degree view of the world around it. Almost from the time it was founded in 1946, Cleary has been looking outward. It was one of the first firms to expand into Europe, opening a Paris office in 1949, and has long tightly integrated its overseas operations with those within the United States. Today, more than one–third of Cleary’s roughly 1,200 lawyers are based in Europe, with dozens more in Latin America and Asia. Much of its billion–dollar–a–year revenue (a mark Cleary crossed for the first time on the 2011 Am Law 100 list) derives from its expertise in global matters, including international trade and regulatory work, capital markets, antitrust, and restructuring and bankruptcy.
Alone among the thousand–lawyer firms, Cleary maintains just two stateside offices, in New York and Washington, D.C. Each, however, is a formidable presence: New York is a center for the firm’s busy corporate and litigation practices; Washington is the hub for its antitrust and regulatory work. A perennial top finisher on the Am Law 100 list (ranking in the top 20 since 1986), Cleary has also been a highly profitable firm. It ranked third on that year’s Am Law Profitability Index, which looks at a firm’s ability to convert revenue into profits.
The success hasn’t come at too great a price, either. While long hours are the norm, Cleary is known as a relatively informal, collegial place (spurring that, perhaps, is a compensation system based solely on seniority). There is a lot of promotion from within—90 percent of Cleary’s partners started out as associates at the firm—and Cleary is one of the more diverse large firms around, ranking fourth on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Diversity Scorecard (28 percent of associates self–identify as a person of color and 8 percent as either lesbian or gay). Generally, the firm scores good marks from its junior lawyers, ranking eighteenth on The American Lawyer’s 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey (though this dropped to fifty–ninth in 2011).
While there have been some disappointments—after 18 years trying to boost an underperforming Japan office, the firm finally pulled the plug in 2006—Cleary’s formula has clearly been a winner.
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 15 | no change | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 15 | no change | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 16 | no change | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 21 | 5 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 50 | 9 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 13 | 9 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 59 | 41 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 92 | 9 | Summer programs |
In the News
Linklaters, Cleary on Sumitomo Mitsui's $1.5 Billion Indonesia Acquisition
Jessica Seah : The Asian Lawyer : May 9, 2013
The Japanese bank is acquiring a 40 percent stake in Indonesia's PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk.
Asia Deal Digest: May 9, 2013
Tom Brennan : The Asian Lawyer : May 9, 2013
* Linklaters takes the lead on Sumitomo Mitsui's $1.5 billon Indonesia acquisition* Three firms on New Zealand's largest-ever IPO* The world's first publicly traded law firm is raising $64 million to fund U.K. expansion
Litigation
: New York Law Journal : May 6, 2013
In this Special Report from the New York Law Journal, brought to you free by The TASA Group Inc.: "Combating IP Theft Using Unfair Competition Law," "Five Commandments of Family-Owned Business Divorce," "Come to a Full Stop" and "Navigating Uncertain Procedural Rules of Federal Agencies."
Come to a Full Stop
Avram E. Luft and Laura Zuckerwise : New York Law Journal : May 6, 2013
Avram E. Luft and Laura Zuckerwise of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton write: When parties enter into tolling agreements, the conventional wisdom is that the potential litigation has come to a complete standstill. However, what most defendants fail to consider is that under New York law, while the claim against a defendant may be tolled, in the ordinary course prejudgment interest on that claim continues to run unabated.
Greece Taps Freshfields for Big Post-Bailout Asset Sale
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : May 3, 2013
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance have landed roles on the Greek government's first major asset privatization following last year's $173 billion bailout: the sale of a 33 percent stake in state-owned gambling monopoly OPAP to Greek-Czech investment fund Emma Delta for $861 million.
VOLS Firms Meet Pro Bono 2012 Pledge
Bill Lienhard : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
Greenberg Shareholder Challenged By Public Debt Deal
Julie Kay : Daily Business Review : May 1, 2013
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Kara MacCullough advised International Flavors & Fragrances, which had never before done a registered debt deal.
DOJ Loses Fight Over Foreign Official's $38.5 Million Jet
Mike Scarcella : The National Law Journal : April 24, 2013
In 2011, top U.S. Department of Justice officials trumpeted the government's effort to seize millions of dollars in assets belonging to a top public official in Equatorial Guinea. But a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has now ruled against the government in a fight over a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet prosecutors contend Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue obtained through corruption.
DOJ Loses Fight Over Foreign Official's $38.5M Jet
Mike Scarcella : The National Law Journal : April 22, 2013
In late 2011, top U.S. Department of Justice officials trumpeted the government's effort to seize millions of dollars in assets belonging to a top public official in Equatorial Guinea. Now a federal trial judge in Washington has dealt prosecutors a setback.
Cleary, Gibson Dunn Take Charge in ABB's $1 Billion Renewable Energy Deal
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 22, 2013
Swiss industrial technology company ABB announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Power-One, which makes solar inverters that convert energy from solar panels into electricity.
- Adams and Reese
- Akerman Senterfitt
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & Hostetler
- Baker & McKenzie
- Bingham McCutchen
- Bracewell & Giuliani
- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Burr & Forman
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Carlton Fields
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickinson Wright
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Greenberg Traurig
- Gross McGinley
- Harris Beach
- Haynes and Boone
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Hughes Hubbard & Reed
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Kutak Rock
- Lane Powell
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Lowenstein Sandler
- Margolis Edelstein
- McCarter & English
- McDermott Will & Emery
- McKenna Long & Aldridge
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morrison & Foerster
- Moses & Singer
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- Proskauer Rose
- Pryor Cashman
- Reed Smith
- Richards, Layton & Finger
- Robinson & Cole
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Shipman & Goodwin
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
- Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Sullivan & Worcester
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wiley Rein
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Winston & Strawn
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
- Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor
