Firm Profiles
IN-DEPTH RESEARCH REPORT
on Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
- - Financial Information
- - Compensation
- - Billing Rates
- - Lateral Partner Moves
- - Pro bono
- - Key Contacts
Schulte Roth & Zabel
- Designation: New York
- Head Count: 351
- Gross Revenues: $370,500,000
- Revenue Per Lawyer: $1,055,000
- Profits Per Partner: $2,105,000
- Year Over Year Change: 3
Founded in 1969 and with just over 400 lawyers, Schulte Roth & Zabel isn’t among the oldest or largest of New York firms, but it is a major player in the financial services sector. Ranked seventy–fourth on the 2011 Am Law 100 (with $373 million in revenues), Schulte is particularly known for its practices in private equity transactions and investment management (structuring hedge funds and other investment funds). Indeed, roughly a quarter of the firm’s attorneys are involved in its funds practice.
Not surprisingly, Schulte’s litigation group, comprised of some 100 attorneys, similarly emphasizes finance–related work and handles securities law matters such as internal investigations, real estate litigation, regulatory enforcement, bankruptcy, reorganization, and creditors’ rights litigation. While litigators and corporate lawyers alike are largely based out of the firm’s New York headquarters, Schulte also maintains offices in Washington, D.C., and London.
As one would expect given Schulte’s transactional–heavy workload, the economic crisis didn’t spare the firm. It ranked fifty–ninth of 84 firms on The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index, which looked at how the country’s largest firms fared between 2007 and 2009. And it likely would have placed even lower had 2010—another tough year for Schulte—been considered. Profits per partner fell from $2.3 million in 2008 (when they ranked tenth among firms) to just over $2 million in 2010 (ranking twentieth). By the end of 2011, however, the tide finally seemed to be turning, with revenues inching up 1.2 percent for the year, and profits per partner rising to just over $2.1 million.
While Schulte fares better than average on diversity (thirty–eighth of 194 firms on The American Lawyer’s 2011 ranking) and pro bono work (placing forty–seventh of 200 firms in 2011), associate morale has, arguably, taken a bigger beating than the firm’s financials. Schulte ranked 122nd of 137 firms on our 2010 Midlevel Associates Survey, and 122nd of 126 firms on the 2011 tally. There’s something to be said for consistency, although Schulte’s junior lawyers might argue otherwise.
Firm Rankings
| Survey | Rank | Year Over Year Change | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am Law 100 | 78 | 3 | Gross revenue |
| Am Law 200 | 78 | 3 | Gross revenue |
| NLJ 250 | 119 | 10 | Lawyer head count |
| The A-List | 28 | 7 | Overall excellence |
| Pro Bono Scorecard | 47 | no change | Pro-bono commitment |
| Diversity Scorecard | 42 | 4 | Minority head count |
| Midlevel Associates Survey | 122 | no change | Job satisfaction |
| Summer Associates Survey | 28 | 24 | Summer programs |
In the News
Largest New York Firms Show Steady Growth
Christine Simmons : New York Law Journal : May 9, 2013
Growth was steady last year for most of the 20 largest law firms in New York, with slight to moderate gains in gross revenue and profits per partner.
VOLS Firms Meet Pro Bono 2012 Pledge
Bill Lienhard : New York Law Journal : May 3, 2013
ASSOCIATE MOVERS
: The National Law Journal : April 29, 2013
Cynthia Rickett joins Kilpatrick Townsend's intellectual property department as an associate in the Seattle office. Plus more moves in this week's column.
Cerberus Turns to Lowenstein Lawyer for Potential Bushmaster Sale
Brian Baxter : The Am Law Daily : April 26, 2013
Robert Minion, chair of Lowenstein Sandler's investment management group, is advising Cerberus Capital Management on the private equity giant's possible sale of Freedom Group, a collection of firearms makers whose products include the semiautomatic Bushmaster rifle used in the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, which left 26 people, including 20 children, dead last December.
Deals in Brief/REITs
David Marcus : The American Lawyer : April 25, 2013
Real estate M&A activity continued apace in the first quarter of 2013, with three transactions of $1 billion or more announced in January.
Corrections
: New York Law Journal : April 24, 2013
Simpson Thacher, Schulte Roth Advise as Blackstone Buys Credit Suisse Private Equity Unit
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 23, 2013
Private equity firm The Blackstone Group is buying Strategic Partners, a dedicated secondary private equity unit of Credit Suisse that manages roughly $9 billion in assets. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
Some Small, Mid-Sized Firms Begin Planning for Succession
Christine Simmons : New York Law Journal : April 22, 2013
While succession planning can be a sensitive topic in mid-size and small firms where senior partners have held the reins for generations, several New York firms are confronting the issue head on, laying the groundwork for an orderly transition of business development and leadership.
Marketplace: Massive Hudson Yards Project Moves Forward
Monica Paquette : New York Law Journal : April 17, 2013
The 26-acre complex currently under construction on Manhattan's West Side has captured the attention of several high-profile companies. L'Oreal USA and SAP AG will join Coach Inc. at Hudson Yard's 1.7 million-square-foot South Tower. Also, the first of two 99-year ground leases with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been finalized.
SandRidge Energy Taps Mayer Brown for Inquiry Centered on Embattled CEO
Tom Huddleston Jr. : The Am Law Daily : April 10, 2013
A month after ending a proxy battle with activist hedge fund TPG-Axon Capital Management, Oklahoma City-based SandRidge has hired the Am Law 100 firm to investigate a series of questionable land deals by CEO Tom Ward and his family that helped spark a revolt among the oil and gas company's shareholders.
- Andrews Kurth
- Arent Fox
- Ashurst
- Bingham McCutchen
- Bracewell & Giuliani
- Chadbourne & Parke
- Covington & Burling
- Crowell & Moring
- Denton Wilde Sapte
- Dewey & LeBoeuf
- Dickstein Shapiro
- DLA Piper
- Freehills
- Goulston & Storrs
- Heller Ehrman
- Herbert Smith
- Holland & Knight
- Howrey
- Husch Blackwell
- Irwin Mitchell
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- Katten Muchin Rosenman
- Keker & Van Nest
- Kilpatrick Townsend
- King & Spalding
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Lathrop & Gage
- Locke Lord
- Loeb & Loeb
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques
- Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
- Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
- Morrison & Foerster
- Munger, Tolles & Olson
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Patton Boggs
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Porter & Hedges
- Proskauer Rose
- Ropes & Gray
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton
- Slaughter and May
- Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal
- Squire, Sanders & Dempsey
- Steptoe & Johnson LLP
- Sullivan & Worcester
- Thompson Hine
- Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard
- Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- White & Case
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
