Firm Profiles

While Cravath isn’t the largest or richest firm on the Am Law 100 list, few firms have as much influence and success. Cravath’s partners (about 90) are among the most highly paid lawyers in the nation, and the firm is routinely in the top five (and often top three) law firms for partner compensation and profits per partner. It is typically the first major law firm to announce associate bonuses—numbers that are awaited, and followed, by many other firms. And its legendary “Cravath system, ” the firm’s approach to lawyer training and compensation, has also been widely emulated.

But while Cravath may lead, it rarely follows, and has a tendency to buck trends popular among its peers. There is no globe–dotting network of offices; almost all Cravath lawyers are based in New York, with a couple dozen in London. There is no growth via merger. There are few lateral hires, and partners come almost exclusively from among the associate ranks (a notable exception was when Cravath hired Christine Varney, former head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, in 2011 to work in its antitrust practice). Compensation, even among partners, is lockstep based on seniority. They make a point that they are different and take their mission seriously: Few other firm Web sites feature a tab labeled “philosophy.”

Cravath divides its lawyers among five broad departments: corporate, litigation, tax, executive compensation and benefits, and trusts and estates. (Under Cravath’s system, associates rotate among the various practice groups within their department.) Its corporate partners annually appear on the world’s biggest deals; its litigation partners, particularly Evan Chesler, Richard Clary, and Sandra Goldstein, are on corporate America’s speed dial. The firm has old and deep client relations, from IBM to Time Warner. (“Tex” Moore, the third name on the door, was the brother–in–law of Time Inc.’s founder, Henry Luce.) Life at Cravath can be intense: The firm ranked 111th (of 126 firms) on The American Lawyer’s 2011 Midlevel Associates Survey (evidently, oddball perks like discounted pet insurance and defensive driving courses don’t mitigate the long hours). But even lawyers who don’t make partner come away with one of the most vaunted—and sought after—experiences in the industry.

—Updated as of 1/1/12