Firm Profiles

Shearman & Sterling isn’t just one of the nation’s oldest and most distinguished law firms, it’s also one of its most resilient. How else to describe a firm that took so many hits during the recession—by 2011, its net income, gross revenue, profits per partner, and head count lagged 2007 levels—yet still earned a spot on The American Lawyer’s A–List for 2011, a designation limited to just 20 premier firms?

It wasn’t Shearman’s first time on the list, either. Unlike many of its New York peers, the firm has built a reputation as a well–rounded legal powerhouse: While there is an emphasis on hard work—and a lot of it—the firm also regularly posts above average grades for pro bono (eighteenth in 2011), diversity (twenty–ninth in 2011), and associate satisfaction (sixtieth of 126 firms in 2011, but remember, this is Manhattan). Its scores dropped a bit during the downturn, but that they still managed to top so many firms—even as Shearman placed seventy–third of 84 firms on The American Lawyer’s Recession Performance Index—is a significant achievement.

Of course, when you’ve been around since 1873, you’ve had some experience with hard times. You also have a track record, too, and Shearman’s is compelling: It helped The Ford Motor Company go public, represented Cadbury in its $19.4 billion acquisition by Kraft, and advised Suncor Energy in its $15.8 billion merger with Petro–Canada. One upside to the economic meltdown was that it kept Shearman’s litigators busy. Indeed, their work representing the remnants of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., in litigation over its merger with Bank of America Corporation and in ERISA class actions helped earn the firm an honorable mention in The American Lawyer’s 2010 Litigation Department of the Year contest. Shearman’s numbers may have flagged during the recession but its status as one of the country’s top law firms remained firmly intact.

—Updated as of 1/1/12