Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Kaye Scholer LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Kaye Scholer
- Designation: New York
- Head Count: 414
- Gross Revenues: $400,000,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $965,000
- Profits Per Partner: $1,355,000
- Year Over Year Change: 5
Founded in New York in 1917, Kaye Scholer is known largely for its litigation practice—it was The American Lawyer’s Product Liability Litigation Department of the Year in 2006—as well as for its intellectual property and life sciences work. The firm’s transactional practice struggled through the economic crisis, although the tide began to turn in 2011, when Kaye’s private equity group advised on some two dozen transactions with a deal value in excess of $10 billion.
Kaye Scholer was the first New York firm to open an office in Shanghai when it set up shop in 1998. Its Silicon Valley office came relatively late in the Internet era, opening in 2010, but it has made up for lost time by actively recruiting technology lawyers from other firms, including veteran partners from White & Case and Dewey & LeBoeuf (firmwide, Kaye Scholer has 425 lawyers, including 127 equity partners). In recent years Kaye Scholer has also been expanding its technology practice into the emerging area of sustainability and greentech law, advising clients on alternative energy projects, cleantech investments, and the risks and opportunities related to climate change.
Kaye Scholer has one other distinction, but don’t expect the firm to boast about it: It’s a fixture at the bottom of The American Lawyer’s Midlevel Associates Surveys. In 2011 it ranked 125th of 126 firms, which actually marked an improvement from the previous year, when it came in dead last among 137 firms. Even summer associates have gripes, ranking the firm seventy–second of 108 firms in 2011 (up from ninety–ninth of 101 firms in 2010). Not surprisingly, Kaye Scholer has implemented changes designed to foster communications between partners and associates and has reorganized many of its practice groups so they are smaller and more manageable. “It will take some time,” says comanaging partner Michael Solow, “but hopefully, we’ll get better reviews once people understand what we’re doing.”
—Updated as of 1/1/12
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 73 | 5 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 73 | 5 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 99 | 1 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | NR | N/A | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 72 | 6 | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 85 | 2 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 125 | 12 | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 72 | 27 | Summer programs |
In the News
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 21, 2013
K&L Gates hires two renewable energy partners in Portland; King & Spalding poaches from Bird & Bird to establish a London trade practice; and a fourth Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft lawyer leaves the firm for O'Melveny & Myers. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
State Bar Honors Public Service
Tania Karas : New York Law Journal : May 10, 2013
The winners of the 2013 President's Pro Bono Service Awards were honored at a luncheon at the State Bar Center in Albany on May 1.
The Churn: Lateral Moves in The Am Law 200
Diane Jeantet : The Am Law Daily : May 3, 2013
Littler Mendelson hires another batch of attorneys from Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart; Kaye Scholer adds a former New York State Supreme Court justice to its litigation practice; and Davis Wright Tremaine picks up three attorneys. The Churn is constant. Please send all announcements to thechurn@alm.com.
VOLS Firms Meet Pro Bono 2012 Pledge
Bill Lienhard : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
Catterson Joins Kaye Scholer as Litigation Special Counsel
Brendan Pierson : New York Law Journal : May 2, 2013
James Catterson, 54, wrote more than 250 opinions and dissents and took part in over 6,000 appeals during his nine years at the First Department, which he left after losing reelection to the Supreme Court last fall.
Seeds of a Settlement
Anne Stuart : The American Lawyer : May 1, 2013
A decade after Monsanto licensed its soybean patents to DuPont, the two companies signed a second licensing deal. In between came bitter court fights, an embarrassing sanctions order, and a record-setting jury verdict.
DOJ Blasted for Settlement with Kaye Scholer in GSC Bankruptcy
Jan Wolfe : The Litigation Daily : April 30, 2013
Despite Settling GSC-Related Claims, Kaye Scholer Not Quite Done with Case Yet
Jan Wolfe : The Am Law Daily : April 29, 2013
A week after the firm resolved claims it mishandled its application to work on the GSC Group's Chapter 11 filing, two Kaye Scholer lawyers are due to testify Tuesday about what a key figure in the case said at a critical meeting with Justice Department lawyers.
MOVERS
: The National Law Journal : April 29, 2013
John Cherundolo joins Hiscock & Barclay's torts and products liability practice as of counsel. Plus more law firm movers in this week's column.
VERDICTS & SETTLEMENTS
: The National Law Journal : April 29, 2013
- Adams and Reese
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Allen & Overy
- Anderson Kill & Olick
- Arthur Cox
- Ashurst
- Baker & McKenzie
- Brown Rudnick
- Buist Moore
- Cahill Gordon & Reindel
- Clayton Utz
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Clifford Chance
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Diamond McCarthy
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Dreier LLP
- Duane Morris
- Eversheds
- Fish & Richardson
- Freehills
- Freshfields
- Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian
- Herbert Smith
- Herrick, Feinstein
- Hogan Lovells
- Howrey
- Jenner & Block
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- Linklaters
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- McKool Smith
- Minter Ellison
- Moore & Van Allen
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Morrison & Foerster
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough
- Nexsen Pruet
- Nixon Peabody
- Norton Rose
- O?Melveny & Myers
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein
- Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman
- Proskauer Rose
- Reed Smith
- Ropes & Gray
- Ruden McClosky
- Shea & Gould
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Simmons & Simmons
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- White & Case
- Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr
- Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice
